Darling Raven Darling Nikki 1
by raven lynn morrigan
Summary: In the bleak future Raven finds herself trapped in a nightmare that she can't escape with only memories of the past to comfort her. COMPLETE
1. Chapter 1

This is another chapter that my editor never got last week-she says she made some changes to this one. I couldn't find them, but i re-uploaded it anyway. After a few reviews that came in I just wanted to make this clear that even though it searches as Raven and Robin it is not a pairing fic. That would be Raven and Kilowatt in this story that name just wasn't in the list for me to choose from on the characters-since it dealt with Nightwing too I just went ahead and stuck Robin in there.

This is a story that was handwritten about two years ago. It never quite came out how I wanted it back then. This is one of those stories that I took back out to work on after my obsession with the reruns of 'Criminal Minds' on ION began. For some reason the insight into the dark workings of the human mind have helped my writing...I'm just not sure at this point whether that is a good thing or not. Here is revamped story-much of it I find dark and disturbing. It deals with mainly Raven, but also Kilowatt and Robin-now Nightwing as it is set int he future. I choose Kilowatt because of the dynamic that was hinted at between he and Raven in the one Teen Titans Go Comics that he was in and just Robin/Nightwing wasn't working out in the original version. Maybe its just me, but I always felt there could have been more between Raven and Kilowatt. So if you're into the dark and disturbing please read and leave a review to let me know what you think. The rating is M-I just want to make that clear before anyone reads any farther.

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Darling Raven 1-Darling Nikki v2

It has been several years since the Titans split up-going their separate ways-after a change in the mayoral office made it clear that they were no longer welcome in the city. The others all found somewhere to go-except for Raven. Since Azarath was destroyed by her father, the tower had been her only home. She has lived on the streets of Jump City for sometime now. A rapidly changing weather climate after a brief and disastrous world-wide nuclear war-not long after the Titans were disbanded-has brought snow to the coastal city this time of year. She draws her tattered cloak around her-but it does nothing to block out the cold. She catches sight of the tower-it is lit up again. Raven wishes that was because the Titans were back together again. She always pushed everyone away back then and now she would give anything to have them all back. Her mind turns to the past as it has more and more frequently lately.  
Kilowatt...no one had ever come so close to her-not even Robin with whom she shared a bond. Had it not been for her powers keeping them apart Raven doesn't doubt at all that they would have become more than just friends. He was too much of a gentlemen to even think of risk stressing her control over her powers-but it was always there deep in the back of his mind where he tried to shield it from her. She thinks that's why he finally decided to return home. She lets her mind drift to very night he decided to leave.  
Raven pauses as she hears Kilowatt and Robin talking around the corner.  
"It's better this way, Robin. It would only hurt her if she knew and I can't do that to her."  
"If your sure about this I can't stop you, but I just want you to know that you are welcome to stay."  
She doesn't stick around to hear anymore. She has found something with Kilowatt-some connection even deeper than the bond that she and Robin share. She doesn't want to loose him. Raven uses her powers to escape to the roof-where the winds of an impending thunder storm carry away the few tears she dares to let escape. She stands there on the edge of the roof watching as lightening dances among the clouds.  
"It isn't safe for you to be out here right now."  
"Kilowatt..."  
"...you should come back inside now, Raven."  
Did he know she overheard him? Somehow she doesn't doubt that as he takes her hand and leads her back inside the tower. She looks back as the door closes to see the rain begins to fall in torrents-as if it were making up for the emotions that she could never express. She had promised to find away to get him home when he first came here-but in truth that search had stalled as they became closer. She had found for the first time someone that truly understood her and selfishly she never wanted to loose that.  
It only strikes her now that he had held onto her hand until he had taken her back down to her room. He would have told her right then-she is sure of that-but he did know she had heard him talking to Robin. It was late any way and he had merely asked her to get some rest at the time. To ease the strain on her, Kilowatt had fully intended to turn the search for a way home over to Jinx. Raven sighs-her hood tumbling back off her head-as she looks up at the sky with its never ending snow fall as she recalls insisting that he at least allow her to finish what she had started. Maybe that wasn't the best idea because she had nearly lost him when she made a mistake and sent him to the wrong dimension where evil doubles ruled. She stumbles in a drift of snow-falling to her knees. It is a struggle for her to get back to her feet. Its so cold out and there is no warmth to be found for some one out on the streets like her. Raven stops as a coughing fit wracks her weakened form. If the severity of the cough is any indication she won't have to worry about that much longer. She had once pondered the question of whether or not she were an immortal since she is only half demon. With her run of luck over the last few years it wouldn't surprise her at all if she were doomed to forever wander the cold streets-that is worse fate than hell she thinks. She is sure she should have died long ago from hunger. Raven manages to walk for several more blocks-but eventually collapses to her knees again as another coughing fit comes on. She struggles to breathe when it finally ends. She tries to get up-but this time she is too weak to go on. She falls to the cold ground as snow falls down all around her. She fights to hold onto consciousness but it slowly slips away from her as the cold zaps her of her last remaining strength. For one brief moment she could swear that she sees lightening dance among the snow clouds.  
One man sees her collapse as the limo passes by the old run down area of town, he pushes an intercom button. "Stop the car." He waits for the driver to stop the limo then he gets out into the cold and goes over to the girl. He kneels beside her in the snow and holds his fingers against her neck feeling for a pulse. For a moment he doesn't feel anything, but soon weak-stubborn beats drum in a slow rhythm. It's clear to him that on some level the frozen girl still stubbornly clings to life. He brushes her hair back out of her face-if she wants to live he will be more than happy to take control of that life. "Score another one for me." From the tattered clothes and bony frame he can tell that she has no home or anyone who cares for her or she wouldn't be in this state-that's good for him at least. He is always on the lookout for new girls for his business and its always easiest when no one out there is looking for the girls. He instantly recognizes the old uniform as he takes a good look at her. He smirks evilly as he watches her threaten to stir. "This one is going to do quite nicely, indeed."  
Raven looks up briefly as she hears a voice. It sounds so far away somehow. She can't tell what is being said and all she can make out is the silhouette of a man in the dark surroundings of the dimly lit street. She tries again to get up but her limbs feel so heavy. She can't move no matter how hard she struggles. When she finally begins to succumbs to unconsciousness she can't help but wonder if its the grim reaper standing above her. As the darkness overtakes her-she resigns herself to whatever her fate will be-whether it be heaven or hell.  
He stands up then gently lifts the frozen girl into his arms and carries her back to the limo. He lays her down on the back seat as he climbs inside. He again presses the button for the intercom as he closes the door against the cold. "Go to the parking garage, I'm going to take the service elevator up the penthouse-I don't want anyone to see her yet." As the driver pulls out he runs his fingers through the girl's long matted hair. He wants to keep just who he has found to himself so he dares not take her back to the infirmary. He takes off his heavy winter coat and spreads it out over her to help her warm up. He presses the intercom button again knowing that she still needs medical attention. "Once we get to the hotel drive back to the club and pick up the doctor. Have little sis send her over some clothes as well." He settles back on the seat across from the unconscious girl-plotting just what he is going to do with her.


	2. Chapter 2

Its her birthday-not the bad one where Slade ruthlessly chased her through the time locked streets. It is one year later. She awakens to an empty tower. No Cyborg and Beast Boy arguing over whether to serve tofu or real meat. No Robin brooding over the latest Slade lead while Starfire makes goo-goo eyes at him. Even Kilowatt who had only been there a few weeks at the time was oddly absent. Today it seems will finally be just a nice calm morning. Slikie is the only one in sight-rolling around for some inexplicable reason on the kitchen island. She stares at him a moment before she puts a pot of water on the stove to boil for some tea. Even with her powers she takes a look around to make sure no one is watching as she leans over the island and scratches the worm's tummy. She even laughs aloud as he seems to make oohing and aahing sounds to indicate that's just what he needed. Raven has her tea in peace and quite as Silkie finally settles down upon the kitchen island for a mid-morning nap. She stretches-almost tempted to go back to bed herself, but she goes instead up to the roof to meditate in the morning sun. It's there that the morning's peace comes to an end.  
"Happy Birthday!"  
"She is annoyed at first-no birthday has ever been very happy for her, but there is just something different about this one. She gives in as she is whisked over to a picnic breakfast of homemade waffles-her favorite. She looks around at all her friends who want to make this a perfect day for her. Suddenly the happiness of the day ends as she collapses in a coughing fit-something just doesn't feel right about that-she is sure it never happened.  
Raven awakens struggling to draw breath as her coughs finally subsides-a very rude awakening from the dream that she longed to stay in.  
He props her up on the pillows and places a glass of water to her lips-letting her drink. "Easy now, not too fast." He sets the glass down when she pulls her head away.  
She finally opens her eyes and looks around to find herself in a lavish room. At first she thinks it is just some desperate attempt from her mind to give her something to hang onto. She jumps startled when she realizes someone is sitting there by her on the edge of the bed.  
"I see you're finally awake. You've been unconscious for several days now."  
"Who are you? Where am I?"  
"You are a guest in my home. I couldn't leave you to freeze to death out there on the street after all you've done for this city. My name is Elrich Johansen, I'm a local business owner.  
"Thank you for helping me, but I really shouldn't impose-"  
"-Where will you go?"  
"I...I don't know. I don't really have anywhere to go since they closed down the tower."  
"You aren't even well enough to get out of bed. You will stay here until you are well and you have gotten your strength back, then we'll find you someplace decent to stay...and who knows perhaps I can even find a job opening for you." Elrich lays out a set of clothes on the bed. "These should fit you. I've had some things sent up for you-in the bathroom. Why don't you go get cleaned up, then we can have a bite of dinner?" He gets up and leaves the room before Raven can reply.  
Raven just lays there looking around the room. This is something that she could never even imagine in her wildest dreams. It looks like something right out of a fairy tale. A tear slips from her eye as she has a sudden longing for a prince that she fears she will never see again.

Elrich stands there outside the door. He wonders just how long he can keep up the good samaritan charade before she catches onto him. One thing is for sure-he is going to have to find a way to block those powers of hers before she gets enough strength back so she can use them to escape. He goes now to the phone to order up some room service. He fully intends to tempt and pamper the girl so that she will never want to leave even when she does find out why she's here.

Raven doesn't even realize just how weak she is until she gets up and makes her way to the bathroom. She shouldn't trust some stranger like this, but he did save her life and honestly it isn't like she has anything to lose. She is shocked by the grandeur of this place as she enters the bathroom. Marble sinks-crystal fixtures-a tub that looks big enough for an army. Its this that she's drawn to now. She is so weak that she has some difficulty turning the knob for the water. She stands there in awe for sometime before she finally sheds her tattered clothing. Raven stops looking at her reflection in the mirror. She is nothing but skin and bones. How this guy could've ever recognized her even in her tattered old uniform is beyond her. She finds a collection of scented body washes and shampoo-even an expensive looking silver brush and mirror set. She climbs into the bath settling into the soothing water where she works on taming the mess of her tangled hair. She thinks she could really get used to living like this. Raven quickly comes to her senses. This isn't something that is going to be permanent. A nagging thought does creep into her mind-why would a total stranger be so eager to help her find a place to stay or even a job and not take her to a hospital. She quickly tries to push it away as she intends to enjoy the luxury treatment while it lasts-but in the back of her mind the thought still lingers.

She can't even remember the last time she has eaten anything, but her attention is drawn to the view of the tower. It's lit up-but somehow its different-the lighting is darker and strobe lights flash in many of the rooms. It's strange though that out of all of them her old room remains dark.  
"Is there something wrong with the food?"  
"No...I was just looking at the tower.  
"I hear its the red light district now. Things have really changed since the new mayor took office."  
Raven looks up startled by what Elrich just said goes on at the Tower. She takes one last look at it before turning away. She doesn't have much of an appetite anymore, but its been way too long since she has had anything to eat. Raven all too soon finds herself looking back up at the tower as she longs for the past spent there with her friends.  
"You must be wondering why I didn't take you to a hospital."  
"The thought did cross my mind."  
"That's another of the mayor's changes. To put it nicely superheroes have been outlawed. That's probably why no one tried to help you if they recognized you. No one would want to get you in trouble-authorities are bound to think you're here to play the heroine again." He sits quietly for a few moments watching her almost non-exsistant reaction to that piece of news. "Where are the others now? If you don't mind me asking."  
"Starfire went home. I remember Beast Boy talked about going to Hollywood."  
"Ah yes, I remember he was several animals in a movie once. I bet he was steamed when they color corrected them all."  
"I think he was hoping to become a big star."  
"Maybe he will have better luck this time around. What of the others? Didn't Terra just disappear?"  
"Slade tricked her into working for him. We never saw her after he was defeated. Beast Boy thought he found her once. If it was Terra then she wouldn't admit it."  
"Rumor has it a big Tech firm was interested in Cyborg."  
"He mentioned going out to Steel City to join the Titans there."  
"Didn't one of them move up to the Justice League?"  
"Speedy."  
"Robin went back to Gotham-so why did you stay?"  
"He's back in Gotham?"  
"For several years now-it was all over the news when he was hurt pretty bad in an explosion."  
"An explosion? Did you hear if he's okay?"  
"The last I heard he is back to fighting crime now-he changed his look though. The uniform is the color of a real robin. There was someone else wasn't there?"  
"Kilowatt...he went home too."  
"And what about you no home-no family?"  
"I'm not from here. My home world was destroyed...by my Father."  
"I guess that explains why you haven't gone to him then."  
"He can rot in hell for all I care."  
"So I take it you're not human."  
"Half-my mother was from Earth."  
"Then you have family here."  
"Only a grandfather-he passed a few years ago. I only saw him once-he was delirious by then. He thought I was my mother and kept apologizing for the way he treated her. He needed to make his peace, so I didn't tell him I wasn't her." Raven looks up suddenly-she can't believe how much she's revealed about herself to this man she doesn't even know.  
"That was kind thing for you to do."  
"Maybe. I feel very tired, I think I would like to lay down for awhile."  
"Of course." Elrich stands up and sees Raven back to her room and helps her to bed. "Just call out if you need anything." He stands there outside the door after closing it for a few moments. No family-no former Titans to interfere-he thinks this is going to work out very nicely.

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A note on this chapter:

I sometimes refer in my stories to things that may have taken place in either the cartoons or any incarnation of the comics. Part of this chapter refers to some of the older Batman comics. There were a total of three Robins. Dick (Richard) Grayson, Jason Todd, Tim Drake. I needed a reason for Robin to be Nightwing now-which is why I referenced that. Had something really happened to Dick Grayson former leader of the Titans-Raven would have known about it through their bond. She didn't feel that which is why she was shocked by the news.

Just in case you're confused now, I'll try to explain what happened. In the comics Dick Grayson he went off to college and Jason Todd took over the role of Robin. For whatever reason no one much liked him and he was killed off by a fan vote. The Joker beat him up and left him to die in an exploding building and Batman never got to him in time. The third Robin was then Tim Drake (he was also a member of one incarnation of the Titans in later comics after Raven died) who apparently was intended for at least awhile to be the version of Robin they were putting in the cartoons. That had me confused for a long time because they had Robin becoming Nightwing-yet in a Static Shock cartoon Batman tells Static that the Tim Drake version of Robin (who had a different costume) went to join the Titans. Thankfully it wasn't long after that there was a documentary on the history channel talking about comics that cleared all that up. I just wish my editor had seen it because I end up with migraines when I have to explain all this stuff to her.


	3. Chapter 3

As you may have noticed this week the title has changed from Darling Raven to Darling Raven 1-Daling Nikki. This just proves that it is never a good idea to leave me at home alone on a weekend with a source of caffine. Aside from being bad for my heart mummer and keeping me up at night, you end up with a story (which would have been fine on its own) that now has multiple sequels that connect with all the songs on the "Purple Rain" sound track. I know some of the chapters are short, but my stories just don't break down into chapters well. It's already written and broken down so I'm not going to change it now.

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Darling Raven 1-Darling Nikki

It's been almost three weeks now as Raven has slowly gotten her strength back-the cough has finally gone away. She thinks as she wakes up that it is time to go now. Her feeling of unease-that began as only a single thought-has steadily grown worse over the last week. She staggers up feeling very groggy. It barely registers that she is completely naked now. She searches for clothing, but can find nothing like she's been wearing the last few weeks. All she finds is a tight sexy little dress. Raven grabs the cover from the bed and holds it around her as the door opens.  
"I thought I heard you up."  
"What did you do to me?"  
"Nothing...yet."  
Raven tries to use her powers to stop him from coming toward her but nothing happens.  
"I'm sure you realize by now that I am not just some nice guy. I have rescued many girls from the streets-but all of them work for me now down at the strip club."  
"Strip club?"  
"And then there are the private parties for high ranking city officials and anyone else willing to pay for a little alone time."  
"I'm not going to let you pimp me out."  
"And just how are you going to stop me? As you've already discovered-you can no longer use your powers. You would be dead if it weren't for me-you owe me. But I like you, so I will make you a deal. If you service me-then I won't pimp you out." He walks closer to Raven-grabbing her chin and forcing her to look at him. "Don't even think of trying to run to the police they would just bring you back to me. Girls who run end up in one of the private rooms upstairs where paying customers can do with them as their hearts desire and believe me there are some very sick puppies out there. So do you want to take the deal or not?"  
Tears stream from Raven's eyes. "I wish you had just left me to die."  
"I could never let a pretty little thing like you go to waste. I'll give you some time to think it over." He sits down a box of hair dye on the dresser. "Take the offer and you won't have to suffer the humiliation of everyone in the city finding out what has become of its former heroine." He leaves the room-locking the door from the outside.  
Raven sinks to the floor as tears fall from her eyes. She can't believe she let herself get into this situation. Without her powers there is nothing she can do now to save herself. She doesn't like any of her options, but his offer sounds better than any of the others. She trembles as she gets up and takes the box of hair dye from the dresser. As she goes into the bathroom she sees the chain around her neck in the mirror. It is too short for her to pull off over her head and she can find no clasp. She pulls on it, but is unable to break the links. She lets it go then-resigning herself to her fate. Its then she sees the charm attached to one of the chain links-a bird trapped in a gilded cage. Fresh tears fall from her eyes as she again picks up the hair dye. She notices now her hair has been altered as well. It had grown well passed her shoulders over the years and it has been neatly trimmed-no traces of the irregular length of her former style remains now and her bangs have been trimmed to hide the gemstone on her forehead. She looks away from the mirror as she turns her attention to the directions for the hair dye.

When he opens the door about an hour later he finds Raven sitting there on the bed-her hair now as black as her name implies. The tight little silver lamé dress clings to her figure. She isn't the walking skeleton he found on the streets anymore, but she isn't quite back to a healthy weight yet either. There is still plenty of time for her to recover that perfect figure that he remembers, but right now she has dance lessons to go to.  
Raven doesn't look at him as he enters the room. She keeps her tear-stained eyes glued to the floor as he takes her hand. For the first time she realizes she has much more to lose than she thought.  
"From now on as far as anyone else is concerned your name is Nikki. Is that clear?"  
She only slightly nods her head to indicate she heard him.  
Elrich roughly grabs onto the chain and pulls her up from the bed. "Answer me when I ask you a question. Now, what are you going to answer when some asks your name?"  
"N...Nikki."  
"Good girl."  
He lets go of the chain and takes her arm, but she refuses to move.  
"What did you do to me last night?"  
"Besides fitting your chain you mean? Just a new hairstyle. You wouldn't have stayed still if you were awake, but that's not what you mean is it?" He keeps his grip on her arm with one hand as he slides the other up inside her dress."  
She tries to pull away from him as he traces the v-shape of her pelvic bone.  
"I like my girls nice and neat, besides that...do you want anyone finding out the carpet doesn't match the drapes?" He slips a finger part way inside her just to make her squirm. "I wouldn't waste a virgin by taking her in her sleep. Be a good girl and I'll make sure you're first time is something you will never forget...and trust me when I'm through you'll be begging for more." He removes his hand from her dress and forces her out of the room. He seats her at the table were some breakfast is waiting. "Eat up, you have a long day ahead of you."  
"I'm not hungry."  
He grabs her still damp hair and forces her head down close to the plate. "You will do as I say."  
With a trembling hand Raven picks up the fork. It is so tempting to just bury it in his leg and make a run from the door, but the thought of what he said would happen if she were to try to run quenches that idea.  
He lets go of her hair now and leaves her to eat.  
She looks up toward the door again but doesn't make a move. She looks back down at the plate-she just pushes the food around with her fork for awhile before she finally eats it. She looks up when Elrich comes back over to her when she pushes the plate away.  
Elrich caresses her cheek with his hand. "You're a fast learner. I like that." He hands Raven a pair of sandal like spiked heels that match her dress. "Hurry up-little sister is waiting for you down at the club."  
Raven quickly puts on the shoes-securing the straps around her ankles. She stands up shakily when he takes her hand. She ends up stumbling into Elrich's arms when she looses her balance after only a few steps.  
"Don't worry you'll get the hang of it soon enough." Elrich guides Raven over to the door. From the closet he takes out a white fur coat and slips it over Raven's shoulders. It only goes down to her waist, and isn't going to do much to protect her from the raging cold outside, but it is the look that matters. He dons his own winter coat and then leads Raven out to the elevator.  
She realizes as they travel to the lobby that they just left the penthouse. She looks away from the doorman who leers at her as Elrich leads her to a waiting limo. Raven looks up as Elrich speaks when they are in the limo.  
"Get used to the looks my darling. People will come from miles around just to leer at you."  
Tears fall from Raven's eyes again as she thinks of having to strip in front guys night after night.  
"No more tears."  
Raven glances up at Elrich before drying her eyes. The windows are tinted black so she can't see where they're going.


	4. Chapter 4

She instantly recognizes the underground parking garage the limo is parked in when they get out. This used to be the hanger of the Titans Tower-where Cyborg worked on all the Titan vehicles. Raven turns to look to Elrich but he answers her question before she can even voice it.  
"I own the tower now." He takes her arm leading her to the elevator. He takes her down to the basement where a training area with practice stages and rows of make-up tables has been set up for the girls. He takes her over to the only girl in the room without a chain around her neck. "I have a new one for you Sis."  
The girl circles Raven looking her over. "She's on the skinny side-patrons like healthy looking girls."  
"You should have seen her when I found her. Don't worry we'll get her into shape. Just teach darling Nikki here how to entertain the guys."  
"And just what about the girls?"  
"She's all mine, Sis."  
"I'm sorry I didn't find her first."  
"I'll be back for her later tonight. She's going with me to mayor's party. Have some of the other girls ready to go too." He turns to Raven. "Do whatever my little Sis tells you within reason." He fingers the chain around her neck. "Just remember who you belong to. Oh, and Sonja-leave her bangs alone."  
Raven watches as the girl he calls his little sister flips him off as he leaves.  
"Darling Nikki huh? I know just what to do with you." She takes Raven's hand and leads her over to a make-up table. "Lets start with the simple stuff." She sits Raven down and runs her fingers through the long midnight locks before pulling off the fur coat off her trembling form. "There's nothing to be scared of, its just us girls." She runs her hands through Raven's hair again before taking a seat beside her.  
"So Nikki huh? I bet my genius brother picked that one out."  
Raven just looks nervously at the girl afraid to admit or deny it.  
"I'll take that as a yes. Don't worry, I'll take care of you while you're here. When you're with him just do what he says and you won't have any trouble. I'm Sonja by the way-just call me little sis-and while you're here with the girls just refer to Elrich as big brother. So what's your name?"  
"Nikki."  
"Good girl, you'll be fine. Don't worry. Between in here and out there on the streets you're much better off. Now lets make you look like a hot strip-tease vixen." Sonja stands up and opens a set of hot rollers. She proceeds to place them in Raven's hair. "There now lets just give it time to set. Your hair will be different for your routine, but we'll go ahead and get you ready for the party." She picks up a make-up case. "Have you ever used make-up before?"  
"No."  
"If you ask me, you don't need it. You're gorgeous just the way you are, but you're going to need it out there on stage, I just want to get an idea now of what it should look like. Darling Nikki...I'm going to teach you to really make the people up there sweat. Elrich is going to have to pay me a bonus with all the money he will make from people running upstairs to finish what you start."  
Raven just sits there as Sonja puts some stage make-up on her. Finally she dares to speak. "So...you work for your brother?"  
"Mostly its just guys that come to this place, and I just happen to have certain insights on what they really like to see-Elrich is too wrapped up in money to care-plus the girls are more comfortable with me. How did he end up finding you?"  
"I had nowhere to go, so I just wandered the streets." Raven pauses for awhile before she speaks again. "I would have died if El-big brother hadn't found me."  
"I'm very glad he did, but I still wish it had been me instead of him. There now, I know it looks gaudy, but it has to show up under all those strobe lights. It will make more sense once we get you dressed. Just wait here while I make sure some of the girls know to be ready for a party after their shifts."  
Raven just sits there as Sonja leaves her alone. She can only recall a few times she was in this room as a Titan. Once when Robin had ended up down here after nearly dying when a chemical reagent got into his system causing him to hallucinate. The other time was when she had lost control of her powers turning the tower into a real life horror movie.  
"Nikki?"  
She snaps out of it as Sonja waves a hand in front of her face.  
"You looked a million miles away there for a second."  
"I guess-in a way I was."  
"Come on lets find you a costume. No offense but you look much too weak to learn to dance right now. I'm going to give Elrich an ear full about that later. We're going to have to take good care of our star performer."  
"I haven't even started yet."  
"Trust me, I know these things." Sonja seats Raven on a stool in front of racks of costumes.  
She watches as Sonja searches the racks for just the right outfit. Right now this all seems so unreal-almost like a dream. She looks around nervously realizing how it could all too easily become a nightmare. Even if she wanted to run right now there are guards posted at every exit ready to prevent an escape.  
What she first comes back with is a long black velvet dress with matching gloves and a pair of thigh high leather boots. "There now...let me see what I can find to go under them." Sonja goes off again until she finds a red and black tight fitting leather number-just the ensemble for the dominatrix look she wants to go for. "Here we are. This probably won't fit very well until we get you back to a healthy weight, but go ahead and try it on so I can see how it will look." She takes Raven over to a folding screen. "Go on. Let me know if you need any help."  
Raven takes the clothes behind the curtain and changes into them. This feels uncomfortable enough now-she can only imagine the torture its going to be when she gets her weight to where Sonja wants it. Finally she ventures from behind the screen.  
"This is going to be perfect. Come on." Sonja takes Raven's hand and leads her up on an empty practice stage. She places one of Raven's hands on the pole. Then gets down off the stage. "Give me a couple of slow circles around the pole then take off the dress."  
Raven moves around the pole as instructed then releases the dress from the Velcro side closure and lets it fall to the floor.  
"This is going to be hot...put the dress back on, I want Elrich to see this."  
She puts the dress back on and just stands there leaning against the pole as Sonja takes out a cell phone.  
"Elrich, you've got to come down and see this...I don't care what big time bozo you're schmoozing with. Trust me this is going to be well worth your while...its your darling Nikki." She looks up at Raven as she closes the cell phone. "He'll be here in a few minutes. Have you ever heard the song 'Darling Nikki?'"  
"No."  
"I can see why he picked the name. I have the song at home, I'll have to bring it in. In the mean time-let me show you something to try for big brother." Sonja gets back up on the stage. "I'll make this easy for you now. Just watch what I do."  
Raven watches as Sonja dances around the pole. The movements to her just look nasty, vulgar, and demeaning. It makes her feel sick to her stomach to think that she's going to have to this every night from now on.  
"Try that. Just remember you want to make it look like you're making love to the pole."  
"I've never..."  
"...I see, no wonder big brother wants you all to himself. Surely there must've been some guy...or even a girl that you had the hots for in the past. Just pretend you're trying to tempt that person. Now go on and try it."  
Raven stands there a few moments-such thoughts about guys were forbidden to her lest they interfere with her control over her powers. She does recall however the team's first encounter with Aqualad-she was very smitten with him at the time, but that was nothing more than a school girl crush. Her thoughts turn back to Kilowatt-if ever she could have loved someone-it is him.  
Elrich comes down stairs as Raven tries the little dance around the pole. His eyes are glued to her as the other girls stop what they're doing and come to watch.  
Raven looks up startled by everyone gathered around when she finishes.  
"Wow."  
"She's a natural don't you think Elrich?"  
"Most certainly. Just one question...you are going to do something different with her hair aren't you?"  
Sonja turns to Raven. "Go back and put your dress on." She turns to the others girls. "Back to work now." She turns to her brother as everyone walks away. "I'm getting her ready for tonight. She's not strong enough to start training yet and you know it. If you don't take very good care of her I will make you regret it." She punches him below the belt to drive her point home "Do you understand?" Sonja walks back toward Raven before he can answer. She steps up to the folding screen. "You okay back there?"  
"I'm fine."  
"That's enough for today. Come on back and let me get you ready for tonight." Sonja leads Raven back over to the make-up table and goes to work removing the stage make-up. "There now-that's so much better." She puts only some subtle eye make-up back on her-creating a very sexy smoky eye and adds a slightly tinted lip gloss. "There that is perfect. I'll teach you how to do it later. After this party he is going to take you home and let you rest, or I will do my best to give him a sex change operation. He knows not to mess with little sister. As for you, I better not see you back down here until you're completely healthy again." She takes the curlers from Raven's hair now, letting the soft silky locks flow down in loose curls. She runs a comb through it before adding some hairspray to hold the look in place. "There now a hairstyle fit for an angel." She stands back looking at Raven. "Where ever did you find contacts that color?"  
"That's my real eye color."  
"I've only seen one person with..." She fingers the charm on the chain around Raven's neck, before looking closely at her bangs. "...I get it. If anyone ever asks you that question-don't say that."  
"Then what should I say?"  
"Just tell them its a trade secret-something special for your routine, and if they really push the issue tell them to take it up with big brother. I'll let him know it could be an issue. Now you just sit here and get some rest until its time to go."  
Raven watches Sonja walk away to check out all the other girls. She dares to look back at her reflection in the mirror. She doesn't even recognize the girl she sees there. Make-up and tight little dresses were never her thing. The dress she has on barely covers her butt while standing and it only rides up as she sits leaving very little to the imagination-especially since she wasn't given any underwear to put on. She quickly crosses one leg over the other as she spies one of the guards leering at her. The top of the dress doesn't hide much either. It's backless and ties behind her neck. Its drape only partly covers her breasts. She notices the guard look away from her as Sonja approaches him.  
After giving the guard a stern warning she walks back over to Raven. "Don't worry they know to keep their hands off unless they want to become eunuchs. When they're off duty...well lets just say they know to stay way from the bosses girls. If they ever give you any trouble just let me or Elrich know-even if they try to threaten you if you do." Sonja searches through some jewelry until she finds a pair of matching silver cuff like bracelets that she places on Raven's wrists.  
Raven looks down at the bracelets for a few moments-they look similar to the ones Wonder Girl always wears-everything today seems to be reminding her of her superheroine days. She looks up at Sonja with tears threatening to slip from her eyes. "I'm scared."  
Sonja takes a seat beside Raven. "There's no reason to be scared. I know it may seem bad now, but trust me you'll be wondering why you didn't come into this line of work on your own soon enough." She takes a tissue from a box and hands it to Raven. "Dry those eyes okay, you don't want to look like you've been crying before the party." Sonja looks around at the girls, she sees her girl just coming back down from her shift. "Ebony, come over here a minute. You talk to her okay, she knows just how you feel right now."  
Sonja gets up as Ebony comes over. "Get ready for a party, okay Eb-I want you to stay with her tonight and I don't care if big brother tries to tell you otherwise. You listen to me not him."  
"Sure."  
Ebony takes a seat by Raven where she begins to remove her stage make-up. "Who found you Big Bro or Little Sis?"  
"Big brother."  
She looks around at all the others girls before she speaks again. "He wants you for his own right?"  
Raven just nods.  
"I bet he told her himself just to tick her off. He never liked the little speech he got when she found me. So, what did he name you?"  
"Nikki."  
"Look around Nikki. We're the two most privileged girls in this place right now. After they all get done on stage for the night they have to spend the night with whoever is willing to pay for sex. They have it better than the girls upstairs though-the ones who tried to run away. They're trapped up there for all the perverts to play with. When its over for us we get to go back to nice luxury penthouses where we're taken care of. I was scared too and even thought about running-until little sis took me up to show me what happened to the girls who did. Making the bosses happy after hours is a hell of a lot better than what those girls go through."  
Raven glances back over at the guard that was leering at her earlier. "You like all this?"  
"I hated it at first, but then I realized after awhile that its not that bad. I lost my family in the bombings. We lived in D.C. they sent me here just before it started to live with my great aunt-the Titans were still here back then. She got herself all worked up after all the bombs went off and had a heart attack. I was out on the streets after she died. I had nowhere to go-no other family. I wanted to die until little sis found me. At least with her I'm taken care of and truthfully I don't want to run anymore. You just follow the rules and the party tonight is the worst thing that you will ever have to go through. Okay?"  
She nods as she dries her eyes.  
"I'm going to go change now. I'll be right back."  
Raven watches as Sonja hands Ebony some clothes to wear for tonight. She thinks that Robin would have called Ebony's acceptance of the situation Stockholm Syndrome. Raven can't help but wonder how long it will take before she succumbs to that as well. The name changes-the chain necklaces are all just a form of control. She looks around now at all the girls-she notices for the first time that some of them have gold necklaces and the others silver-like hers. Ebony's was gold she realizes now. She thinks its probably some sick game between the the brother and sister to mark who found which girl. She looks up again when Sonja follows Ebony back. It's clear that Sonja has dressed Ebony identical to what she wears-except the color is gold.  
Sonja stands between the two as Ebony sits down to put on some make-up for the party. "If Big Brother even thinks about letting anyone touch either of you tonight-it will be the last one he ever has. Both of you stick with him tonight."  
Ebony waits until Sonja walks away. "Get used to that-they always act that way."  
"I noticed."  
"Seriously though, don't worry-no one will touch you tonight-Big Brother wouldn't dare cross her-not even when it comes to orders about his girls. And if anyone ever tries anything here just call for security."  
"And what if it is security?"  
"As long as they keep hands off the working girls they get to have their way with the girls upstairs. None of those horny bastards would screw up and loose out on that deal."  
Raven looks around at all the girls again. Everyone close enough for her see clearly appears to have a different charm attached to the chain. She looks over at Ebony to see a regal looking Tiger on hers. Raven closes her hand over the charm attached to her own chain. She very much feels like a bird trapped in a cage right now.

At the party Raven finds herself becoming very nervous. She had expected some wild sex crazed party goers-but these are just a bunch of older guys in suits. She looks up as the mayor approaches them. She finds herself hating him for forcing the Titans out of the city.  
"Elrich, good to see you. You've brought some fine looking girls as always."  
"Only the best for my business partners." Elrich turns the other girls as dismisses them to mingle amongst the guys with only a wave of his hand.  
The mayor turns to Ebony. "I'm surprised to see that Sonja let, you out tonight, but I'm very glad to have you as my guest."  
Raven wants to throw up as the mayor makes a show of kissing Ebony's hand.  
"Oh, my and this young one. I haven't seen her before."  
"Nikki is new."  
Somehow she manages to keep her cool as the mayor takes her hand.  
"I look forward to seeing more of you my dear." The mayor steps back and gestures them all in. "Please enjoy yourselves, and my apologies to these pretty young girls for having to endure all the boring business talk.  
As Elrich leads them away, Raven looks around at all the expense that's gone into this party. She is sure that the tax payers must be fitting the bill for all of this. She pauses looking back at one of the girls who stays behind with the mayor. "Terra?" She whispers quietly to herself as Elrich pulls her along with him.  
He keeps the two girls at his side as he makes his way over to a sofa where several high ranking and corrupt officials are gathered. He sits down with one girl at each side as they talk some business about the up coming election. After awhile he gets up to go get some drinks.  
Raven suddenly becomes very self conscious looking around at all the other girls that came with them. She curls up on the sofa trying to hide as much of herself as possible.  
Ebony scoots over to her and whispers softly. "It's going to be okay...just stay calm." She looks up and manages to catch Elrich's attention. She motions first toward Raven with the slightest nod of her head and then toward the bathroom.  
Elrich nods for her to go as he turns to another associate that walks up with one of the other girls.  
"Come on-lets go where we can have a little privacy." Ebony leads Raven into the bathroom. She brushes some hair back out of Raven's face. "There's no need to get upset. You've clearly been through a lot before he found you. Trust me right now you are enough to make a gay guy think about going straight and a girl want to be a lesbian. I saw the guard who claims to be gay sweating when you were up there on that stage earlier. I'm only Little sister's girl-I'm not like that, but honey even I'm tempted. Big bro is going to have to hire extra security once you're healthy again. You've just got to relax now...let all the guys look. That's the whole point of us being here-to tempt votes for the mayor out of all these old goats."  
"I can't do this." Raven longs for the protection of her old cloak to hide underneath.  
Ebony pulls back her dress just above her left breast and removes a small plastic bag that has been pinned there. She opens it and removes a pill. "Little Sis sent this just in case you started to panic. Just take it and it will help you relax."  
Raven just stands there staring at the tiny pill that Ebony places in her hand.  
"Go on, its okay. Its not anything that is going to hurt you."  
Finally Raven pops the pill in her mouth and cups her hands under the running water and brings it to her lips and swallows it.  
"There now, you're going to be just fine." After a few more minutes Ebony leads Raven back out to the party.  
Elrich is waiting with some drinks for the girls.  
Raven just stares at hers for awhile, until the pill starts to take affect. She is not sure she should mix what ever it was with alcohol-but right now she doesn't care.  
Once Raven begins to loosen up a bit Elrich takes the girls around the room with him to help in his campaigning for the mayor.

By the end of the night Elrich has had to turn down several offers for guys to take both girls home. Little Sis would kill him if he let Ebony go and darling little Nikki is his alone. Were he to even leave them unattended in Raven's current state he is sure the guys would be trying entice Raven to make a run for it just so they could get their hands on her.  
Raven leans heavily on Elrich as he leads her and Ebony out of the party and into the limo. She falls asleep almost immediately as she sits down. She's very exhausted and all the alcohol isn't helping on top of the drugs.  
Elrich lets her sleep as the others girls are taken back to the club.  
It's only a short drive back to the club and Sonja gets in for her and Ebony to be taken home. She looks up at Elrich as she settles down with Ebony across from him. "This was too soon for her."  
"Perhaps."  
"Perhaps nothing. What are you trying to do make her drop dead from exhaustion?"  
"She will be fine. You worry too much."  
"You drove all the other girls you took in as your own to run away just to have someone for the upstairs rooms. If you even try to think of doing that to her-"  
"-I wouldn't dream of it this time."  
"So you do admit it."  
"I will hold my tongue dear sister and refrain from speaking the comment that comes to mind as we are in the presence of ladies."  
Sonja has to bite her tongue to keep from telling him just what she's thinking so she settles for flipping him off.  
Elrich just smirks spitefully as he places his arm around Raven's sleeping form.  
"Don't you dare. That poor girl has been through enough for tonight."  
Both of them just glare at each other in silence for the rest of the trip until the driver reaches Sonja's hotel.  
Sonja leans back inside once Ebony gets out of the limo. "At least I will be having some fun tonight." It's her turn to smirk as she closes the door and the driver pulls away from the curb.  
Raven finally awakens when Elrich rouses her from sleep.  
"We're almost home now."  
She looks around as she stretches-all the other girls are gone now. Raven gets scared now as the limo pulls to a stop in front of the hotel. She is afraid of what he is going to do to her once they reach the penthouse. Somehow she manages to keep her cool as they get out into the cold air and pass the doorman who lets them inside. She doesn't even bother to look up at him this time. Raven keeps it together until they are safely alone in the elevator. She backs away from him trembling as she fights to stay awake.  
Elrich caresses her cheek with his hand before picking her up as they reach the top floor. He throws her over his shoulder and carries her inside.  
"No...please don't!"  
He carries her into her bedroom and sits her down on the bed. "What's the matter Darling Nikki?"  
"That's not my name."  
"What was that?"  
"I said that's not my name."  
"I thought that's what you said." Elrich draws back his hand and strikes her across the face."  
"Your name is Nikki now. Say it."  
"No."  
He hits her again-harder this time. "What's your name darling?"  
Raven can taste blood-she looks up at him loosing the will to fight along with that to stay awake. She speaks again softly. "Nikki."  
"Good girl. Now get some rest."  
She is asleep before he even pulls the coat off her and lays her down on the bed.  
Elrich stands there watching her a few moments-as tears fall from her eyes even as she sleeps-before he closes the door.


	5. Chapter 5

I'm not really sure how this chapter came about-I think it came about when my cousin was playing the song "Rope Burn" from Janet Jackson's Velvet Rope album over and over. It doesn't take much to spark an idea in my head while I'm writing. This is the only story that my editor got to go over this week. We fought about combining this chapter with the next one. I thought it needed to move along faster so that it would be clear why I changed the title and came up with eight other sequels based on the songs from the Purple Rain Soundtrack. She won and said that it need to stop here for now and let the two chapters stand alone-at least she thinks she won-I just got tired of arguing with her and left it alone.

* * *

Darling Raven 1-Darling Nikki

The next morning Raven stumbles out of bed-falling because she hadn't realized that she had forgotten to take off the spiked heels. She takes them off before she gets up-limping slightly now because her left ankle is quickly becoming very sore. She pauses before the bathroom mirror looking at the dark bruising on her face and dried blood that trials from the corner of her mouth-where her lip is spilt open. She quickly turns away from the mirror she is crying again as her thoughts turn again to Kilowatt. The day before he left her-no, not her them-had been so perfect...  
No fights with villains-no other distractions. She had him to herself for most of that day. She is in charge of keeping him away from the tower so the others can set up a little going away party. He insisted to going to the beach-they just walked along the surf-neither of them speaking for the longest time-both just content to be with the other.  
Finally as they stop to watch the sunset, he speaks. "You heard me talking to Robin the other night."  
She turns to him, afraid that she speaks she will lose all control, but she can't stop herself. "Please stay...I need you."  
"I wish that I could Raven, but we both know that if I stay I will only be putting you at risk."  
"I would give up my powers for you. I know it can be done-villains have found ways to block them before."  
"The city...no not just the city-the world needs you more." He reaches out to Raven-wiping away the tears that fall from her eyes."  
She looks in the mirror again. "Some use I am to the world now." Her existence on the streets had been bad, but now her life has become a nightmare...and right now she would give anything to end it. Raven turns to the door, but there is no lock on it-it doesn't matter. She thinks if she can just find a way to stop this nightmare. She frantically searches through the drawers and cabinets beneath the sink looking for a razor-some electrical gadget not equipped with a ground fault interrupter-right now she would even settle for something metal to stick into the electric outlet. "Electric..." ...she stops-collapsing on the floor crying at the mere of the word. That was the very nature of Kilowatt's powers. She just sits there crying with the bathroom in disarray all around her as Elrich opens the door.  
He looks down at the sobbing girl-then around the room-knowing full well what her intentions are.  
Raven looks up at him as she realizes that he made sure there was nothing laying around that she could use to hurt herself with. She becomes angry now that he's just toying with her. She lashes out at him as he tries to take hold of her arm.  
Elrich just laughs at Raven as she tries to pull away from him. "You have quite a temper." He grabs her hands-holding her still as she beats on his chest.  
"I hate you!"  
"You had best save your strength." He leads her to the dinning room where breakfast is waiting and sits her down in a chair.  
"I'm not hungry."  
"You will eat."  
Raven pushes the plate away. "No!"  
"I've had quite enough of this childish behavior." He grabs her chin-holding her head still as he forces her mouth open. He takes the fork and places some food into her mouth.  
She spits the food out before he can force her to swallow it.  
Elrich tries it again-this time clamping his hand over her mouth-even pinching her nose shut to keep her from breathing until she swallows.  
Raven refuses to swallow-she can't shake him off so she bites his hand-spitting out the food as he lets her go.  
He caresses her bruised face with his hand. "If that's the way you want to be, my darling Nikki..." Elrich grabs her by the hair and pulls her up from the chair. "...then you should know that bad girls get punished for disobeying." He strikes her across the face causing her lip to start bleeding again as she tries to scream for help. He drags her back into her bedroom and over to the folding doors of the small closet where he shoves her down in the floor. Elrich opens a hidden panel installed on each wall and picks up the chains that fall from each which are attached to hooks in the wall.  
She tries to get up and run, only to fall as he grabs her ankle. Raven tries to hold onto the carpet as he pulls her back.  
Elrich drags Raven back and forces her up on her knees. He splays her arms out chaining her to walls. He grabs onto the chain around her neck-twisting it-choking her as she tries to scream. He only lets go when she is on the verge of blacking out.  
Raven just hangs there limply from the chains on her wrists.  
"Maybe you're not such a fast learner after all...but that's okay, I love teaching girls how to obey." He rolls up a piece of cloth and places it between her lips then ties it tightly around her head to gag her.  
She struggles as he unties her dress and lets it slip to the floor. Raven shivers as he leaves her there naked. She jerks on her wrists trying to pull the hooks from the wall before he comes back. She stills when she hears a match being struck-she looks up watching in fear as he comes back with a candle.  
He holds the candle close to her face-letting her feel the heat from the flame. "After the way I found you, I didn't think cold would faze you. Little Sister likes that best because it doesn't leave a mark and it never seems to take long for the girls to give in. I think the heat will be what gets to you, though."  
Raven whimpers from the pain as he lets melted wax drip onto her bare skin. It isn't so bad at first but it becomes more and more painful as hot wax drips onto the same spot and retains its heat.  
He's toying with her more than hurting her, but he wants to give her something to think about and a little pain along the way will only help enforce the issue. He grabs her hair-pulling her head back so he can drip wax onto her lips. "The next time I tell you to eat perhaps you will listen." To drive his point home he lets go of her hair and holds the candle to her breasts-letting the bare flame dance against her nipples.  
She pulls on the chains frantically as she struggles to move away from him. Raven twists her wrists inside the chains so forcefully that the skin there breaks open and bleeds.  
"This is only a small taste of what the girls upstairs go through everyday." He sits a box hair coloring stripper on the floor in front of Raven. "Do you want to join them?"  
Raven just bows her head refusing to look up at him.  
Elrich starts to leave her to think it over, but he stops and nudges the box closer to her. "I wonder how many villains you once fought would be lined up just to have a go at you if they knew you were trapped in one of the rooms upstairs in the club?" He closes the closet doors leaving her alone."

Just how long it is before the door to the room opens Raven can't be sure, but it feels like an eternity to her. She quickly realizes that it is a maid come to clean the room. She glances toward the open door-as she realizes that he is trying to trick her into drawing attention to herself. Raven isn't about to give him the satisfaction-but moreover-the heroine part of her isn't going to let anyone get hurt because of her. She knows that is just what will happen if she gives herself away. She just remains still as she hangs there from her chains-her attention turns to the box in front of her. Tears fall from her eyes as she realizes that Ebony is right-its best to do what the boss wants.  
Soon after the maid leaves Elrich returns to Raven. He kneels down and removes the gag from Raven's mouth. "Are you ready to cooperate now?"  
At first Raven merely nods her head, but then she remembers to speak as he starts to raise his hand. "Y-yes."  
"Maybe there is hope for you yet. Just remember what is going to happen to you if try to pull what you did this morning in the future." He removes the chains from Raven's wrists and helps her up.  
"I-I'm sorry...I just...I was upset."  
Elrich hands Raven a bathrobe. "Go get cleaned up before dinner."


	6. Chapter 6

It may not seem that M rated to this point, but this chapter is where that really comes into play. And a little note on the first few lines of this chapter I knew a guy in college who was head over heels for a girl who only liked other girls-he was almost as bad as this guy in the story when it came to getting her attention-I thought for a while he was turning into a stalker. I guess you could say he was the inspiration for this charactor and I mean no disrespect to that guy.

* * *

Darling Raven 1-Darling Nikki

It is well over a month before Sonja lets Raven back into the practice room and almost a month after that before she is deemed fit to go on stage. It is now her last full practice before her big debut tomorrow night. She's a vision at the beginning of her routine and a smoking hot vixen by the end.  
Sonja turns to the guard who still claims to be gay-yet is obviously not as Raven finishes her routine. "Why not just admit that you're straight?"  
"What makes you think I am?"  
"That big protrusion in your pants right now for one. Did you think you were going to have to fake it to get a job here down here?"  
"Maybe I'm Bi-"  
"-No you're not...trust me I know these things."  
Elrich walks over to Sonja. "Leave him alone already." He pulls his sister away from the guy. "Isn't it obvious he only wants to work down here because he likes you...although I have no idea why. He is just trying to find some common ground with you-even if it means faking it. I think the guy would get a sex change operation if he knew it would give him a chance."  
"Even he did, he wouldn't be my type." She looks around at all the other girls as they watch Raven. "Is just me or do some of the girls look jealous of darling Nikki?"  
"They should be, she's a natural."  
"She's great...but there is just something missing."  
"I will take care of that tonight." He leaves his sister and walks over to the stage. "Time to go Nikki."  
Raven is glad to finally get off the stage. She rushes into the bathroom where she throws up. She feels, dirty-nasty just from the practice alone. The thought of doing this for real tomorrow night makes her weak in the knees.  
Ebony enters the bathroom to check on Raven. "Nikki, are you okay?"  
"No."  
"It's just nerves, it happens to all the girls their first time. I almost fainted right before my first time on stage. Once your up there and the lights come on and the music starts, then everything else goes away. It will just be you up there making all the guys wish they were the pole."  
"I can't do this."  
"You'll be just fine trust me. You better hurry up, big brother is waiting on you." Ebony helps Raven get cleaned up and changed.

Elrich remains silent until they get inside the elevator at the hotel. He reaches out caressing Raven's cheek with his hand. "You were very good up there in practice, but your performance was lacking and I intend to fix that tonight."  
Raven pulls away as Elrich tries to kiss her.  
He roughly grabs hold of her chin as he speaks low in her ear. "Uh-uh...remember our deal?" Elrich holds her by the back of the neck as he forced her into the penthouse and pushes her down on the floor as he locks the door.  
She quickly gets up and tries to find someplace to hide in here as she realizes what is coming.  
"And just where do you think you're going?" He quickly hangs up his coat-then follows Raven-easily catching her before she can get very far.  
"No...please no!"  
"I can't have you out there on stage looking like a virgin." Elrich forces Raven into the master suite and pushes her down on the bed before he locks the door.  
"You don't have to do this."  
"Did you really think that I was going to leave you alone forever?"  
"I don't want to-"  
"-I don't care what you want." Elrich removes his clothes as Raven struggles to get up from the custom water bed.  
The motion of the bed as it bobs up and down like the ocean makes her feel sick all over again as she finally tumbles to the floor. She struggles to get-up falls against the wall as the room seems to rock from side to side.  
Elrich watches Raven slightly amused as she staggers over to the door.  
Raven tries frantically to open the door-but the knob refuses to turn. She runs her hand over it as realizes the keyhole is on the inside.  
"Looking for these my darling?" He jingles the keys in his hand before he tosses them across the room.  
She shrinks back against the door as he comes toward her. "Please don't..."  
Elrich caresses her cheek as he wipes away her tears. He dare not strike her now and leave a bruise before her big debut tomorrow. He grabs her wrists as she tries to push him away and pins her hands against the door above her head with one hand.  
"...stop it...please-"  
He silences her by capturing her lips with his own as he reaches behind her back and pulls down the zipper of her dress.  
Raven struggles to pull her hands free as he slips the dress off her body. She begins to panic as he finally lets her up for air.  
"We can do this the easy way...or the hard way...its your choice."  
Her choice? She would like nothing more than for him to stick it where the sun doesn't shine. Right now she just wants to get away from him-the consequences be damned. Rage takes over as he rubs his raging member against her entrance. She brings her knee up-planting it firmly between his legs.  
Elrich groans in pain-doubling over as he lets her go. His voice is at least an octave higher as he speaks. "I guess that means we do it the hard way."  
She scrambles away from him-crossing the room in search of the keys. Raven spots them between a narrow space created by the wall and a large armoire. She gets down on the floor and sticks her arm in the space-struggling to reach them.  
"I'm afraid that was a very bad move Nikki."  
Raven freezes as she hears him right behind her.  
"You had your chance, now I'm going to give the strip tease vixen a reason to want to turn dominatrix." He kneels down on top of Raven-pinning her on her stomach before she can scramble up.  
"No...please stop-I'm sorry...I-just got scared-I promise I won't-"  
"-You already had your chance." He grabs her arms pinning them beside her head as he holds her down.  
Raven cries out as he thrusts into her. The pain as he breaks her virginal barrier is immense. She begins to sob as he takes away the one thing that she still had left. She struggles to breathe as sharp pains shoot up her spine from the sheer force of his thrusts. Raven wishes that she could use her powers to stop him but she can't summon them against him no matter how hard she tries. She finds herself hoping for death to bring her release from this torture.  
He pounds into her harder-faster each time he pulls out. Elrich is going to make her regret her attempt to run. He leans down close to her ear and whispers softly. "I promised to make your first time memorable...this is something I'm sure that you are never going to forget."  
She manges to lace her fingers into the shaggy carpet. She pulls with as much strength as she can manage to try and get out from under him.  
Elrich only presses down harder on her as she tries to get enough leverage to crawl away from him. "You're not going anywhere until I'm finished with you."  
Raven struggles to draw breath as she is pressed against the floor. She could swear that her ribs are on the verge of breaking from the pressure. Everything below the base of her spine seems to be growing more numb with every agonizing thrust. She's had more than she can take of this and finds herself on the verge of breaking. Somehow she manages to speak through her sobs. "Please...just get it over with!" The laughter that he lets out is what finally does her in, only her sobs wrack her body as she looses the will to fight him. She just lays there-not moving as he continues his assault.  
Some of the fun goes out of for him as she stops fighting him, but still he pounds into her until he finally cums. He shoots off inside her in hot sticky spurts. Elrich remains there on top of her for sometime before pulling out of her with one final jerk. He gets off her then sits down beside her. "I haven't had such fun in a very long time. It wouldn't bother me at all if you decided to fight it every night."  
She just ignores him-she needs to get to the bathroom right now. Her legs refuse to support her weight as she tries to get up. Raven can't even move her legs to crawl right now. She pulls herself along with her arms as she spots the bathroom door close by.  
He opens a drawer beside him and pulls out a box of cigars and a book of matches. He isn't the cigarette type of guy. He hasn't even smoked in ages but right now it just hits the spot as he lights up. Elrich laughs again as he watches Raven struggle to crawl into the bathroom.  
When she finally makes it to the toilet-she has to grip the edge of the bowl to pull herself up on her knees. Raven throws up for a second time that night. Tears mix with the bile she vomits into the toilet. She can't take anymore of this. Somehow she manages to grab onto the sink and pull herself up so that she is standing in front of the mirror. Thoughts swirl inside her head that she can't block out. Ebony telling her that she is enough to make a gay guy want to be straight and a straight woman what to be a lesbian. The guard that claims to be gay that always drools over her practices. Sonja telling her that she is going to be a hot strip tease vixen-the star. Elrich telling her that she's Nikki-who now has a reason to want to be a dominatrix. "My name is Nikki." Raven locks eyes with her reflection in the mirror as she repeats it again. "My name is Nikki...my name is Nikki...my name is Nikki..." She repeats it aloud over and over as if it were her new mantra. Her posture, her expression, even the tone of her voice slowly starts to change each time she repeats it. She keeps saying it over and over-faster and faster until finally she faints.  
Elrich gets up when he hears her fall. He rushes into the bathroom. He turns on the light before kneeling beside her. He tries to wake her as he lifts her up into his arms. He wonders what happened to her as he feels her pulse-much like the night he first found her-only this time its racing and her breathing very quick as well. "Raven...wake up." Elrich notes that there is a different look in those indigo eyes when she opens them.  
"Who's Raven? My name is Nikki." Nikki the strip tease vixen is ready to show her boss just what she can do.  
He barely gets her up out of the floor before she is all over him. Elrich doesn't know what just happened, but he very much likes this new side of her.

* * *

A note on this chapter. There were a couple of times in both the series and what I call the kiddie comics where Raven seems to suffer from motion sickness. I don't why I went for it here with the water bed thing-it just seemed a little more creepy at the time for some reason. I do suffer from motion sickness and I was on a water bed once...let me just say that it was not a pleasant expierence and that was what I felt like when I got up. And I don't mean that part about me being on the water bed the way it probably sounds...yeah I'm just going to shut up now.


	7. Chapter 7

A major note for the next few chapters. As you will notice Raven now becomes Nikki. If you caught it in the end of the last chapter as a way to cope with what's happening to her, Raven developed a second personality. They kept telling her that her name was Nikki, so that's the name of the personality. This personality has no idea that Raven exsists-if you don't understand why,please google it, or bing it, or it. It gives me a headace just trying to explain these kinds of things to my editor.

In the strip dance scene in my master copy I wrote the dance as a side-by-side with the lyrics from the Prince song "Darling Nikki". Since I did not write that song-I will not post it that way online. I wrote it as a side-by-side to match the dance moves to the song so that is why it is going to look odd in this edit. If you really want to play the scene out in your head then either google the lryics or buy the MP3. I went with the way the lryics are laid out in the cd insert that came with the Purple Rain soundtrack-so it may still look odd even if you find the lyrics online. If you follow along with the song it should take 4:14 for that whole dance to play out-so even though it looks short it really isn't. Unless a character is singing some snippet of a song and the lyrics are integral to the plot I won't post it. Even in this case where the song inspired this online edit of the story, I didn't write it so I won't put them up. So please don't ask me to post the side-by-side for this-like my editor keeps doing.

* * *

Darling Raven 1-Darling Nikki

Its the busiest time of the night in the club. Most guys have just wandered in with wads of cash bulging from their pockets since today is payday. Ebony just comes off stage with her large stack of tips. "Its a packed house out there." She turns to her friend who is waiting to go out for her first time. "How are you feeling Nikki?"  
"Better than ever."  
"I told you it was just nerves. You're going to be a hit out there."  
"You don't think the prop little sis added last minute is too much?"  
"No, trust me in your case it may come in handy out there."  
Nikki looks out at the stage as the lights go down.  
"That's your cue. Go out there and knock 'em dead."  
Sonja joins Ebony backstage as the song 'Darling Nikki' begins to play over the loud speakers.  
Elrich watches from the bar as all eyes are immediately drawn to the stage as the spotlights come on.  
During the twenty-five second intro, Nikki comes out on stage a vision in the long black velvet dress she wears as the music begins. She pauses by the closest guy to her-showing off the split all the way up the left side by running her hand slowly down her leg and revealing the tight leather thigh high spike heeled boots that she wears. She proceeds to the pole holding on with her left hand as she makes a couple of slow walking turns around it. Letting the ponytail atop her head spin around  
She leans back agaisnt the pole squating slightly then standing back up in a slow grinding motion.  
As she bends her arm grabbing onto the pole behind her head she reaches over with her right hand and undoes the velcro faster on the left side of the dress letting it fall open.  
She turns a another guy sitting around the stage and turns around as she lets the dress fall to the stage-giving him a full view of tight ass in the form fitting red and black leather corset and matching thong as she bends over to pick up a whip. She cracks it as she circle the pole this time in the other direction. She leans with her back to it this time sinking down to her knees.  
Where she lays down on the stage-pumping her ass in the air as if she humping the floor before getting back up and grabbing onto the pole cirlcing it again. She cracks the whip before she jumps up grabbing onto the pole with her knees and holds onto the whip behind it with both hands as she slides down in a circle around the pole. She comes to rest on her knees and bends backward all the way down until her back rests against the stage-laying there only a moment before getting back up by arching her lower back and slowly drawing her upper body back up to the pole. sliding up it as she stands-slowly seductivly grinding against it. She circles once for momentum as she turns her back to it holding onto the whip behind the pole with both hands as wraps her legs behind the pole and slides down it. As she comes to rest on her knees she cracks the whip-toward one hot guy before she seductivly crawls away from the pole.  
Several guys throw money up on the stage as she passes by during the musical break. She pauses laying there a few moments with her legs dangling up in the air as she takes in all the sweating guys around her. She gets back up on her knees then runs her hands down her body leaving the whip hilt in a very sugesstive spot between her legs as she slowly unlaces the top of her corset. She grinds against the whip hilt as runs her hands over her breasts. She cracks the whip as she get up and goes back to the pole.  
As the final cryptic verse begins she circles it once slowly wraping her arm around it as she reaches above her head. She lifts one leg up behind her and with her other hand pulls it up above her head showing off just how she can move. As she lets go of her leg she jumps high up on the pole swinging around as she grabs on to it with her legs and slides down it up side down as she spins around with her arms splayed out. She does a hand stand at the bottom then sissors her legs out and rolls down into a split as the music ends.

The guys are lined up at the bar long after the routine is over-all of them wanting a go with darling Nikki. She sits up in his office watching it on the security cameras.  
"You're mine alone, but with all this attention I could let you go the dominatrix route-just to keep them all happy of course."  
"Right...like all that money they would spend for it doesn't matter." Nikki looks over at the stacks of money guys threw on stage during her performance. "I'm more than willing to indulge the sick little perverts if that's what they want."  
Elrich looks over at the girl sitting on the edge of his desk-still in her dominatrix attire. She has been a totally different girl since she fainted last night. "So shall we call down with the offer?"  
"Yes." Nikki unfurls the whip she still has in hand and cracks it. "But I think I'm the only one that will get any enjoyment out of it."  
He calls down to the bar as he keeps an eye on the girl in front of him. He watches her get up and walk across the room where she does some very provocative stretches.  
She looks up at him as he hangs up the phone. "Do you like what you see?"  
"Very much."  
Nikki crawls over to the boss-very slowly-very seductively. She stops in front of him where she unlaces the corset-letting him get an up close look at her. She stops him as he reaches out to touch her. She looks up at the stack of money, of which only a fraction is hers to keep. "First we work out a new deal."  
"Is that so?"  
"Yes, it is."  
"Just what kind of deal do you propose?"  
"I'm the one out there on stage doing all the work. You just sit back-watch and take most of the money." She looks up at the money again. "I would say what I do is worth at least 80%."  
"80% huh? All the girls get have a 80-20 deal-in my favor of course."  
"But I'm not just any girl, I'm the star...so 70-30."  
"40-60."  
"50-50...that's as low as I put out after hours for."  
"Damn if last night wasn't so good, I would send you upstairs for just daring to demand more money."  
"So its a deal then?"  
"It's a deal alright my little vixen."  
Nikki picks up the whip. "You better not try to back out on me...oh and that doesn't include this new dominatrix gig."  
"You certainly are very brave."  
"You won't send me upstairs."  
"And just what makes you so sure of that?"  
"Because you can't live without me."  
"I can't?"  
"No-you said it yourself last night...after every time we went at it. Three to be exact."  
"You kept count?"  
"You didn't?"  
"What can I say you blew my mind." Before he can say anything more the phone rings. Elrich picks it after a few rings. "Hello...yes mayor, she's still here. She only services me I'm afraid...yes that much she can do...alright I'll send her up." He hangs up the phone and turns to Nikki who is lacing the corset back up.  
"What does that old goat want?"  
"You of course, but he'll settle for a little alone time with you up in the lounge. He was quite impressed with your performance on the big screen."  
Nikki expertly cracks the whip as if she has practiced it all her life. "If he tries to touch me, I'll wrap this around his neck and-"  
-Sonja comes into the room without bothering to knock.  
"Dear sister, I think we have created a monster."  
"A hot little monster. Guys are lined up at the bar making bids to be the first to get to see darling Nikki up close and personal. There is already a waiting list a mile long-I wouldn't mind getting on it myself. Some of the guards are already going to work on a den of pain."  
"Den of Pain...I like the sound of that."  
"Off to the lounge now darling, the mayor is waiting." He watches as Nikki leaves the room. He picks up the phone and calls up to the lounge. "Mayor...she is on her way. I just thought I should warn you to keep your hands off. She's a little demon that you don't want to mess with."  
Sonja turns to her brother once he hangs up the phone. "Just what did you do the her? That is not the darling little girl you first brought in here."  
"All I did was make sure we didn't have a virgin up on stage. She passed out and that is what woke up. I rather enjoy the change of you ask me."  
"I didn't." She walks over to her brother and picks up a letter opener from the desk before kicking the desk chair back against the wall. As she speaks she shoves the letter opener between his legs. "You are going to be one sorry puppy if I find out that you hurt her." Sonja walks out of the office and slams the door.

The lounge she finds is OPS. Nikki stops-just looking around a moment as she wonders where that word just suddenly popped in her head from. She quickly shakes it off as the mayor approaches her. She doesn't even speak she just lets the whip unfurl letting him know to keep his hands off.  
"Oh, I like you." The mayor ushers her in, he stops by the bar pouring a scotch. "May I offer you a drink?"  
"Do you really think I'm going to fall for that? We both know you just want to get me drunk and try to seduce me." She takes the drink and downs it in one gulp. "My only clients are the submissive type. I'm sure some of them are going to get a rude awakening as to what they have gotten themselves into very soon."  
The mayor is very smitten by the no non-sense girl in front of him. He motions her over to the sofa in front of the big screen. "Have you ever thought of politics my dear? You are the kind of person who can get things done."  
"And just what things would that be?"  
"Oh, you are a very naughty girl."  
Nikki lays down on the coffee table in front of the mayor. "Naughty is for amateurs."  
"And you're not, I take it."  
She gets up on her knees leaning over to him seductively as she whispers in his ear."  
"Oh, my..."  
Nikki loosens the top few laces of the corset. "So how about a little game to pass the time?"

At the end of the night the mayor stops by Elrich's office where he lays down some money. "This is for darling Nikki. I have never had a more pleasant evening with one of your girls and nothing even happened. Is Sunshine available for the night by any chance?"  
Elrich looks at the schedule on his computer. "She is just finishing up on stage now."  
"I'll wait for her in the limo."  
He watches as the mayor leaves the room.  
Nikki comes back in as Elrich just stares at the money the mayor left her.  
"What did you do to the mayor? He never tips anyone."  
She just smirks as she kicks the door closed and sweeps the desk clean with a flick of her whip. "What I'm going to do to you is a better question." Nikki walks over to Elrich, grabs his collar, and forces him up on the desk. "I believe we still have some negotiating to do...so how about I show you just what I can do so we can work out an accurate deal?"

Sonja waits for Nikki to come down and get changed. She stops staring at the very large amount of tips Nikki carries. "Are you okay?"  
"I'm better than okay...and if you still want to play, then maybe I have some pull with big brother in that department now."  
She starts to call Nikki back and demand to now just what Elrich did to her last night. Sonja stops herself as she watches Nikki walk away-this change might not be such a bad thing after all. She looks down at her phone as it rings. "Yes, Elrich?...she's getting ready now...are you okay? You sound a little...odd."

* * *

And just in case you missed it up top-here it is again.

As you will notice Raven now becomes Nikki. If you caught it in the end of the last chapter as a way to cope with what's happening to her, Raven developed a second personality. They kept telling her that her name was Nikki, so that's the name of the personality. This personality has no idea that Raven exsists-if you don't understand why,please google it, or bing it, or it. It gives me a headace just trying to explain these kinds of things to my editor.


	8. Chapter 8

Terra wasn't in the first version of this story and I kind of just added her in spur of the moment. Richard/Nightwing just wasn't playing a big enough roll on his own after I pulled in Kilowatt for the rewrite-so I thought he needed some help. I'm liking where this is starting to go now. I haven't decided whether or not to pull Cyborg and Beast Boy back in yet...maybe I'll save that for one of the sequels.

And I should have a job next week so to celebrate here is a little something for the fans of this story.

* * *

Darling Raven 1-Darling Nikki

It has been a long time since he has been here. He isn't even sure what lured him back here after all this time. When he came here the first time it was as Robin the former side-kick of Batman. He never intended to form a team of his own, but become leader of the Teen Titans he had. He left here as their former leader. He went back to Gotham City for awhile, but eventually gave up the alter ego of Robin and went off to college. Now he is back here as just plain old Richard Grayson. In all the time he has been away-he never quite got the crime fighting bug out of his system. This seems like as good a place as any to get started again. A familiar city for a new alter ego. And Jump City really needs a hero right now. He can't believe what he sees when he enters the tower. The former mayor never would have allowed anything like this to go on in the city. He doesn't pay attention to the girls on stage-he is more interested in finding out who the crime bosses are and this seems like as good of a place as any to start. Richard takes a seat near the stage close to a group of shady looking men hoping to listen for any useful information. He looks over at a very excited young man to his left.  
"This your first time too?"  
"I guess you can say that."  
"I don't usually go for stuff like this, but my buddy told me about this one girl, Nikki...I just had to come out and see her act for myself."  
"Nikki, huh?"  
"Yeah, I hear she's the best-in more ways than one. Supposedly the boss around here keeps her for himself." He looks up as the lights dim. "She's just about to come on."  
Richard glances around as the music begins and a girl comes out on stage, he has been here no more than five minutes and he has already learned that the owner is a pimp-not a big surprise there honestly. His attention quickly turns to said Nikki as she throws off her clothes. He glances around at all the guys here and sees no hint of recognition among them. He isn't fooled by the bangs, longer hair, and change in hair color-this is Raven. He watches her not with a raging erection like all the other guys around him-but in shock and even a little bit of shame at finding a former teammate acting this way. The Raven he knows would never do this and he finds himself wondering just what in the hell got into her. The chain around her neck isn't a good sign-a quick glance around shows him that all the other girls wear them too. That seems to indicate they are being forced into this. Many of them he can tell are just putting on a happy face for the patrons. Not the girl up on stage though-she is clearly enjoying every moment of what she's doing to all the guys around her. There is clearly a sadistic sparkle in her eye as she looks around at everyone. He certainly wouldn't want to be on the receiving end of that whip. He watches Nikki walk right up to him-getting as close to him in her suggestive dancing as the stage allows. He even makes eye contact with her but she shows no signs of recognition. As the guy he spoke with earlier claps him on the back in congratulations he supposes he really shouldn't have expected her to remember him. Gone is the once spiky hair, replaced by a short ponytail and he wears no mask or sunglasses to hide his eyes.  
Nikki looks back at the guy watching her with a critical eye. He isn't leering or cat calling like all the others. In a way he almost looks ashamed of her. Something inside her threatens to stir-a memory as if she should know him-but she crushes it as she turns her focus back to her routine. She steps back as security has to drag away one over zealous guy who rushes up on stage. Nikki hopes he won't be signing up for time in the den of pain-its the kind like that who always turn out to be the dangerous ones. The last few weeks have brought many close calls. She looks back again at the guy from before only to find him gone now.  
While security deals with the guy who tried to rush up on stage, Richard gets up and makes his way to the backstage area. He can clearly see her last little trick-sliding down the pole upside down-by only holding on with her legs. Is it just him, he wonders or is she scanning the crowd for him? Could it be that their bond is still strong after all this time? He waits in shadows as she gathers up her heafty sum of tips and leaves the stage.  
She takes one last look back at the crowd as she steps off stage. She doesn't see him anywhere.  
Richard steps out as she passes. "Raven." There is just one millisecond as she freezes at the name-that his trained eyes pick up on.  
To Nikki she doesn't miss a beat as she turns around. "I'm sorry-you must have me confused with someone else."  
"I just want to talk-that's all."  
"Sure that's what they all say. Let me save you the time-I only service the boss." She lets the whip unfurl before continuing. "Unless you are the type who is interested in more than just the on stage preview-in that case you would have to get on the waiting list at the bar-I'm booked. If that's not your cup of tea then I suggest you get lost before I call security-not that I couldn't take you myself."  
"You really don't remember me do you?"  
"Is there some reason I should?"  
"Never mind...I should Go. Sorry to bother you." He tried saying the word go in away that might jog her memory but he only hears her mumble the word 'freak' as he walks away. On the way out he stops as he spots a scantily clad blond haired girl giving a guy a lap dance. "Terra?"  
The man in charge of scheduling the girls for patrons after hours steps up to Richard. "See someone you like?"  
"Who is that?"  
"Sunshine, one our top girls. Are you interested in her for the night?"  
He takes a look around. He may not be able to get 'Nikki' alone long enough to talk, but just maybe he can learn what he needs from 'Sunshine'. "How much?"

At the hotel Elrich watches Nikki as she stores her large sum of tips in the new little silver purse she just bought on the way home. It's been the only thing she's bought with her money so far. He can't figure out why she wants so much money if she isn't going to spend it.  
"Who is Raven?"  
"What?" He is caught off guard by question. "Why are you asking that?"  
"Some jerk snuck backstage and called me that...you called me that once too."  
"Why didn't you call security?"  
"They were kind of busy...besides I scared him off all by myself." She puts down her new purse and crosses the room to Elrich where she sits down on his lap. "He was kind of cute though."  
Elrich grabs hold of the chain around Nikki's neck and twists it-cutting off her air supply. "You better remember who it is you belong to."  
She coughs a bit when he finally lets go of the chain, but quickly turns back on her charms. "I would never dream of going to anyone else, but it is fun to tease little sis."  
"And the mayor?"  
"What about the mayor?"  
"Your schedule for tomarrow has been cleared he paid quite a lot to have both you and the lounge all to himself. He never pays for anything."  
"Its just political talk...I know how to push the old goats buttons without ever doing a thing."  
"Just make sure you keep it tame. We would never get another guy like him in power if he keeled over from a heart attack.  
"Do you want to play the little game?"  
"No, I would much rather have the real thing, save your tricks for the mayor tomorrow ." He gets up-holding onto Nikki as she wraps her legs around his waist and carries her toward the bedroom.  
"Just remember that I get half."  
"For your services my darling-not the lounge."  
"Maybe we need to work on a new deal."  
"With the way you deal you'll be running the business inside of a year."  
"I was thinking more like nine months-tops."

"I don't know what they told you, but I don't do the kinky stuff, and please call me Sunny."  
Richard closes the door to his room. He can't believe they let him take her away from the tower. Its now or never-so he decides to just throw all his cards on the table. "All I want to do is talk...Terra."  
She whirls around and takes a good look at this guy. Men want to call her Terra all the time, but there is just something different about this one. "Do I know you?"  
"It was impressive how you stood up to Slade back in that cave. I don't know how you became stone, or how you came back but I wish you had come back to the team."  
"Robin?"  
"Not for sometime now."  
"Why did you all leave?"  
"Starfire had to go home and take over leadership of her home world. It wasn't long after that the new mayor was elected and forced the rest of us out."  
"The mayor-he's nothing but a patsy for the creeps that really run the city now. I should know I have to service him for free often enough just to keep him happy."  
"What happened to you-how did you get mixed up in what's going on at the tower."  
"Don't remember much after I woke up. I just wandered out of the cave and eventually out into the streets. I remember a couple finding me-they took me in and adopted me. I really didn't even remember anything from before until Beast Boy came along, and by then I didn't want to remember. My parents were a big political power couple-the creeps who took over couldn't get anything done so in all the confusion and rioting after the bombings they were shot and killed. They took me to keep me quiet. I tried to fight..." She holds up the gold chain necklace with its sun charm. "...but this thing blocks my powers somehow. At least I think its this thing."  
"Is that what they're doing to Raven?"  
"You mean Nikki. I was afraid to get close to her-of what they might do to the both of us if they caught two former Titans together. That was hard...she was in bad shape when they found her, and she was scared to death. Girls eventually accept what happens to them out there-but her...she just changed overnight."  
"Changed how?"  
"Like I said-she's Nikki now."  
"All this has to be stopped."  
"What do you plan to do put on another costume and go round up the bad guys? They outlawed what they like to call costumed freaks."  
"Then I guess I'll just have to find a way to take them down from the inside."  
"There probably aren't any cops out there who aren't on their payroll, but whatever you do, I want to help. I can get whatever information you need out of the mayor."  
"Its too risky"  
"Like what you want to try isn't. I have a lot to make up for and its time to start."  
"I would feel better if you just left now. I can help you get out of the city."  
"Girls who run always get found and locked in the rooms upstairs for the real perverts to play with."  
"Is there anyway you can get through to Raven?"  
"I can understand if you don't want to believe it, but trust me Raven is long gone now."  
"I have to try to get through to her."  
"It's your funeral-but if your determined to try then you better make sure that she can't recognize you and ruin what you want to do to try and clean up this town."

Early the next morning Nikki awakens to only snatches of a dream that she can't quite hold onto. She finds herself longing to go back sleep just to dream about the strange blue guy again.  
"Who were you dreaming about? It sounded quite wild."  
Kilowatt is the only thing that sticks in her mind leaving her at a loss as to what to tell him. "It must have been someone from the power company."  
"So that's your fantasy huh? So is it working men as in the Villiage People or the is it the real deal?"  
"Who are the Village People?"  
"You don't remember YMCA?"  
"The rec center?"  
"No the song. The Village People used to sing it." He stands up on the bed and tries to do the dance to jog her memory-not an easy feat on the water bed. "Y...M...C...A..."  
Nikki laughs at his antics. "Was one of them a naked dancing pimp?"  
Elrich collapes on top of her as the bed bounces up and down. "Lets see there was a cowboy."  
"Pass."  
"An indian chief."  
"No."  
"A police man."  
"I think we both need to stay away from those."  
"Miltary man."  
"Not my type."  
"Oh, there was a consruction worker...does that do it for you?"  
"Right now you're going to have to let me up unless you want me throw up on you."  
"You don't like rolling along on the waves?" He bounces up and down making it worse.  
"Stop it, I'm serious...you're making me sick."  
"Okay then." He gets out of bed and lifts Nikki up into his arms. "We'll just go into the other room." He whirls around with her in his arms as he makes his way into the other room.  
Nikki keeps it together as long as she can, but she can't hold it back anymore as Elrich collapses on the bed in the other room with her on top of him. "I warned you."

* * *

My editor keeps asking why I always seem to change locations when it gets to what she calls the good stuff...maybe its just me, but there can be a fine line between something that is rated M and MA. Number one I don't want to cross it-and considering how Raven's new personality acts I do think I need to be careful with that. And number 2...well check the last part of my profile-that's really all I know when it comes to writing about this kind of stuff. So if you see an M rating from me then nothing good is going to happen in it. If you wonder after what happened to me why I would write this kind of stuff...well, part of me would like take a trip into 'Nikki's den of pain' and make the guy who did that to me pay for it. I guess that explains why in this story Elrich gets so much abuse from his sister too. Anyone else out there that hates his character as much as I do-stick around for the sequels he will get what's coming to him.


	9. Chapter 9

I did get a couple of questions this week that I wanted to address. The first being-Does Raven have Stockholm Syndrome? The answer to that is no. If you go back and look at the chapter when Nikki first appeared-you will see that Nikki is an entirely different personality from Raven. It is called Dissociative Identity Disorder brought on by everything she had been through to that point-but most because of the emotional trauma from the rape. I my mind however this works just a little differently because of all her powers blocked or not Nikki is a strong personality that can remain in control once she has it. You can kind of argue that Raven already had the disorder anyway because of all the emoticlones trapped in her mind-if it helps you can think of Nikki as a new one of those that got out and is here to stay. The second issue or question was with Robin/Nightwing/Dick and Terra. I think my editor left in the part I wrote in for what happened to Terra after she wasn't stone anymore. When I decided to extend this story with eight other parts for the other songs on the Purple Rain soundtracks-I realized that with the threat of Nikki around that Raven wasn't going to be of any help to Nightwing. I brought in Terra with her back story just for that reason. As for Nightwing/Dick recognizing the two right off...my take on that is the guy was trained by Batman and I really don't think in the same situation that it would have taken Batman that long to figure out who the two girls were. Maybe it didn't come across quite the way I intended-but Nightwing was never 100% sure the girl was Terra until he got her back to his hotel room. Him finding her was just supposed to be some sort of dumb luck. I think the other might have been that Nightwing/Dick appeared so suddenly. If you go back and check all the flashbacks that Raven had-then he has been in most of those-that was a set up to introduce him for later in the story so he wasn't just thrown in.

* * *

Darling Raven-1-Darling Nikki part 9

Several nights later the newly christened Nightwing gains access to the upper levels of the tower. Terra had offered to sneak him in-but he had decided it was best not to risk her getting caught. He uses an old escape tunnel system to make his way back inside. He finds Nikki in her den of pain after she finishes up with the last of her clients for the night. He doesn't doubt what Terra told him-but there just has to be some way to get through to Raven.  
Nikki doesn't even turn around when she hears someone come in. "How much did you bribe the bar tender to get up here?" She turns around when he doesn't speak only to break out in fits of laughter. "Who do you think you are Zorro? You do realize that Halloween is nine months from now right?"  
"I got a call from a friend who recognized you."  
"And who was that the Easter Bunny?"  
"What ever is going on with you here-I know its just Stockholm Syndrome, Raven."  
"That phrase and something about his voice threatens to trigger something in her mind but she blocks it out."  
"Again with this Raven stuff. That's the second time this week. Let me guess that freak sent you. I don't know how you even got in here looking like that, but you better leave now."  
"I know what the caged bird means."  
She looks down at the charm on her chain. "Its just a necklace, all the girls have them."  
He ventures closer to her as he speaks "They took you in off the streets and put you in a cage, Raven."  
"Stop calling me that." She reaches for a hidden panic button but stops picking up the whip instead as she gets very angery. She cracks it at him to try and scare him off.  
Nightwing catches the end of the whip and holds onto it. "That's your name, Raven. A name as dark and foreboding as the destiny that was foretold at your birth." He can tell she is trying to fight something that threatens to surface in her mind. If he keeps it up he thinks just maybe he can trigger something of what she used to be and bring her back. "Remember Adonis, he liked it because you were feisty before...I bet he would just love to see you now. Not even Beast Boy's matching mutant form could keep him from hurting you this time. And Dr. Light...it used to scare him just to get a look at you. I bet you would send the grown man running home crying to his mommy now-no then again he would probably keel over dead from fright."  
All the things he says threatens to drag up a memory that she doesn't want. "Shut up."  
"Wherever he is now, your father must be so proud...yeah, just look at daddy's little girl now-"  
"-I said shut up!" The last one really makes Nikki mad. She tries to strike out at the masked man.  
Nightwing quickly grabs hold of her hand and jerks her into his arms.  
"Let go of me!"  
She wishes she had hit the panic button now as she struggles to get free. Only a muffled scream escapes her as he clamps his hand over her mouth before she can yell for security.  
He wishes that he had brought some sort of tranquilizer or sedative with him. Now that he has her, he isn't about to let her go. "I'm sorry Raven." Right now all he can do is grab onto the chain and use it to choke her until she blacks out." He looks around spotting a security camera in the room. He's lucky that no one has been watching. He looks down at the girl in his arms as she finally succumbs to unconsciousness. For however brief a moment it was Raven had tried to surface. He knows he can't carry her passed the guards and get out the way he came in so that only leaves the old escape tunnels built into the vents after Slade's long ago attack on the tower. He just hopes they haven't discovered that little feature of the tower yet.

Elrich looks over all the security cameras to see what's going on around the club. He watches some of the perverts playing with the girls upstairs before he switches to Nikki's den of pain. She should have been back by now, he doesn't see her though. He picks up the phone and calls his sister. "Is Nikki down there?...I just looked on the security camera-she isn't there..." He looks back at the camera and now sees that the floor vent is open and her whip lays beside it." "...never mind, I'll check somewhere else." He knows Nikki wouldn't dare try to escape. He runs the footage back to find out what happened. He runs it back several times. The first thing she should have done was call security. He can't help but start to wonder now as he watches the costumed freak if his darling Nikki wasn't some coy way for them to breech their inner circle and move back in to take over-she has been getting quite a bit more attention than usual from the old mayor with her little games.

"Sunshine is not available tonight? Are you sure there's nothing you can do to change that?...No there's not anyone else I'm interested in." Nightwing hangs up the phone. He's got Raven...now if he could just get Terra. He would make sure that both girls were taken some where safe where these creeps can't find them.  
As Nikki wakes up-memories that she knows are not her own threaten to flood her mind. She pushes them away as she tries to sit up-only to find that she's been tied down. She glares at the costumed freak as he stands looking out the window. He's not one of the sick perverts that frequent the upper rooms-no he is just trying to keep her from running away. He wants some chick named Raven-that's what she'll give him until he lets her go at least."  
Nightwing turns around when Nikki moans and begins to cough. He frowns at the bruising forming around her neck. He never wanted to hurt her-but he just had to get her out of there.  
She struggles against the bonds that hold her down-she freezes when he steps up beside her. "Don't hurt me please."  
"I'm not going to hurt you...I just didn't want you to run away that's all."  
Nikki shies away from him as he tries to touch the chain around her neck. "Don't touch me...just stay away!"  
He kneels beside her and takes a good look at her as she begins to cry.  
"Please don't look at me like that." She turns her head away from him. "Why did you have to come along and bring all that stuff up-I was doing just fine until you..."  
"...Raven? Did you let one of your emoticlones take over all this time just so you could cope?"  
What in the hell this guy is talking about she has no idea, but she plays along. "All those guys-night after night...I can't do this anymore...I can't take anymore..."  
"What did they do to you?"  
She pulls frantically at her bonds. "Let me go-please...I just want to get out of here-away from them."  
"It's okay you're safe now, I'm not going to let them hurt you anymore Raven." He unties her only to meet with her sharp left hook.  
"My name is Nikki-don't forget it!" She hits him several more times before he can get over his shock to retaliate. Nikki finally stops when the guy is out cold. She starts to take off his mask to find out who he is-but she stops...if Elrich thinks she tried to run...she looks down at this guy-she's really going to make him pay if he gets her in trouble. Nikki picks up the phone and dials Elrich's cell phone. "Elrich its me...no I'm fine-I've got the son of bitch." She looks out the window. "He brought me to some cheap ocean side motel...don't worry, I'll make sure he doesn't get away." She turns back to the guy after she hangs up the phone. She struggles to fight back a memory about a fight between her and some walking traffic light. A bad fight and her dream power company guy is trying to stop them-both of them calling her Raven. She shakes it off as she speaks in a harsh voice. "My name is Nikki!" She looks around-she needs a distraction-they aren't in the den of pain, but she can improvise.

As he wakes up Nightwing finds it very hard to breathe. He realizes after a few moments that she is sitting on his chest. He's laid out at the foot of the bed with his hands bound tightly to the bed posts. He tries to talk only to discover that she has him gagged.  
"You're pathetic...a few tears and you turn into some night in shinning armour. The boss is on the way now and you're going to wish the little freak friend of yours that told you about me didn't. In the meantime...I'm board and since you were so eager to get me alone-I'm going to show you just what I can do. I have to hold back on all the pansies at the club, but you look like the type who can take everything that I can dish out." She rips his shirt open and grabs hold of one of his nipples twisting violently.  
It hurts but he refuses to acknowledge it. He slowly twists his hands in the bindings-trying to loosen them.  
"What's the matter? Is that not enough for you? Lucky for you I know how to make it so much worse." She takes some silvers of wood she chipped from the furniture and inserts them into his nipples. "Still nothing?"  
He bits his lip to keep quiet as the slivers of wood cause his nipples to swell up. He's starting to think that maybe keeping quiet isn't a very good idea.  
Nikki pinches both his nipples between her fingers this time and twists violently-finally earning a reaction of him. "Now we're getting somewhere."  
He still struggles to free his hands. He regrets that he didn't take the time to perfect the Nightwing costume. He really could use all those hidden tools he had in the old Robin one.  
She doesn't have her whip-but his belt will do the job very nicely. Nikki lets him get an eye full of her ample breasts as gets up. She plants the sole of one spike heeled leather boot firmly against his crotch pressing hard as she leans down and unbuckles his belt.  
He breathes a sigh of relief as she lets up the pressure on his crotch-only to have her haul him from the floor and prop him up against the foot board of the bed. He never knew she was that strong. His arms ache at the swift change from being splayed out above his head to now being down at his sides.  
Nikki draws back with the belt and strikes him hard with the metal latch. She doesn't hold anything back like she has to on the guys at the club. She draws blood each time she strikes him. She doesn't even stop when Elrich and several guards from the club enter the room.  
"Save some for the boys, Nikki." He caresses her cheek with his hand before he takes off his coat and drapes it around her.  
She finds something about its length as it almost touches the floor oddly comforting as she draws it close around her.  
"Go wait in the limo Nikki." He waits until she leaves the room before he leans down close to Nightwing. "I know what the two of you are trying to pull now. I should have seen this coming since she started her little games with the mayor. You costumed freaks think you're going to come back in and clean up this town. I must say it was a clever trick-kidnap her just so she could tell you what secrets she found out. And trying to cover it all up with this little show. Nikki is going to pay very dearly for it when we get back to the club." He gets up and turns to the guards. "Waste him." Elrich goes back out and gets in the limo. He just sits there quietly as she curls up beside him. He twirls the end of her pony tail between his fingers as he looks down at her dominatrix costume as the driver pulls away. Yes-he thinks that she is going to pay dearly indeed.

"Think we should find out who this freak is before we waste him?"  
A second guard locks the door. "It can wait."  
"We're going to waste him-what difference does it make who he is." A third guy slips on a set of brass knuckles. "Lets do this nice and slow-there's no reason that Nikki should get to have all the fun."  
The first guy speaks up again. "I don't think that Nikki was acting."  
Nightwing finally gets one wrist free as the guards continue to talk amongst themselves. He quickly frees the other then watches to make sure they aren't looking before he slips away.  
"The little bitch is always trying to pull something." He adjusts the brass knuckles he put in earlier. "You ever notice how she always clears so much more from her tips than all the other girls?"  
"She'll be running the place in no time if the boss doesn't lock her upstairs. Honestly, I hope he does-I would like to find out if she can take it as well as she can dish out."  
"You just said she'd take over in no time-so why would a girl like that be helping these costumed freaks come in when they would only put a stop to the business?"  
The other two guys stare at the first at a loss for words.  
Finally the third shakes it off. "Who cares lets just...does anyone else feel a draft in here?"  
The second guy turns around. "He's gone!"

* * *

My cousin asked what the fight between Raven and Robin was over that Kilowatt broke up in the memory Nikki tried to ignore. I don't know anymore. There was supposed to be more to it at first-but I changed the path to ending and it was no longer that relevant. It was left here because it was supposed to be a side effect of Raven trying to break through Nikki's control.

Since this was supposed to be the first time that Richard became Nightwing I was thinking that the costume wasn't yet exactly what was portrayed in the cartoon that he appeared in. I wanted the first version here to resemble something that Nikki would find funny when she first saw him. That's the second mention I've put in a story about the Easter Bunny. I don't know why I keep doing that...maybe that's a subconscious homage to the pet bunny I used to have as a kid.


	10. Chapter 10

As soon as Nikki realizes that they're going back to the club and not the hotel she turns back on the charm. "I didn't mean for this to happen, I just thought I could take him. He caught me by surprise that was all. I promise it won't happen again."  
"No my darling, it won't" He holds onto her hair as he twirls it-twisting it around his hand.  
"Oww! You're hurting me."  
"What's the matter darling Nikki, can't take what you dish out?"  
She grabs his hand trying to make him let go of her hair-but he only twists it tighter. "What are you doing?"  
He keeps a tight hold on her hair-dragging her along as he gets out once the limo stops.  
"Let go!"  
He grabs hold of the chain around her neck-forcing her to keep silent as she gasps for air until he gets her over to the elevator. He lets the chain go as the limo driver hands him Nikki's whip. "See to it that little sister is kept occupied." He keeps a tight grip on her hair as the elevator starts its slow climb up.  
"I didn't try to run!"  
"Oh no my darling, you did something much...much worse and now you are going to pay."  
"I didn't do anything with that costumed freak-I swear!"  
When the elevator finally stops he forces Nikki into an empty room. "I've been saving this room for something special. I was beginning to think that I would never have to use it." He closes the door and locks it.  
As he turns on the light-she finds that the room seems so familiar. She tries to push it away but one thing stabs at her like a knife. A girl-a lot like her-sitting in the floor meditating when she is struck by a cry for help and she drags the power company guy from her dreams through a portal of some sort. She manages to finally force it away. "I am Nikki."  
"Are you really?"  
She looks up at him as he finally lets go of her hair, only to be struck very hard across the face. She falls to the floor from the force of the blow. She can actually see stars dance across her vision as she comes back to her senses. Nikki tries to get up as she hears the rattle of a chain only to be struck again-her ear rings as she just stays where she is this time. "What are you doing?"  
Elrich padlocks a chain to the necklace that she wears. "What am I doing?!" He grabs her by the hair again and drags her around a room divider and into a bathroom on the left. He throws her down in the tub. Elrich then picks up a box of hair dye stripper sitting on the counter and shoves it in her hand.  
Nikki looks at it for a moment and then looks up at him-clearly confused. "Why?"  
"Don't try to play dumb with me. You can read right?"  
"Yes, but-"  
"-then get to it!"  
She starts to speak again but he hits her again to keep her quiet.  
"Get on with it!"

Nightwing manages to get back into the down town hotel room he has under his real name without being seen. He groans in pain as he collapses in a chair. Nikki really did a number on him. He stops as he realizes for the first time that he thought of her as Nikki. He realizes now that Raven may never come back. Still she's in trouble now because he just had to take Nikki away and try to bring Raven back. He's got to get to her before the boss guy makes good on his threat to hurt her. It is going to take some time before he can even get back to the tower. Before Terra had left the other night he tried to rig a rudimentary com device, he just hopes now that it works.

Terra sits at one of the make-up tables after her shift up on the floor. She's supposed to go home with the mayor again tonight. She looks up in the mirror and pauses as she watches a heated exchange between little sister and the limo driver. She looks over as Ebony takes a seat beside her. "What's going on this time."  
"A problem with the limo or something. It's supposedly pretty major and he is supposed to drive the mayor home in a few minutes."  
"Some mayor...all he does is sit out here in the lounge all day."  
"How can you stand that old goat?"  
"It takes him all of about ten minutes then he's out for the rest of the night."  
"I bet it wasn't like that with the hotty you went home with a few nights ago. All the girls are talking about him." She points out the butterfly hair barrette Terra wears. "He get you that?"  
"No...I've had this for a long time, just haven't worn it for awhile." She looks in the mirror she had found the old barrette in Beast Boy's old room when the tower was being cleared out. When Nightwing wanted a way to keep in touch with her she knew it was going to have to be something she could sneak past the bosses.  
"Oh...so an old boyfriend gave it to you?"  
"I guess you could say in a way that guy reminded me of a guy I used to..." She scratches at her head when the barrette vibrates slightly.  
"You okay?"  
"...no...I think I need to go to the bathroom." Terra gets up and goes into the bathroom. She looks around to make sure that no one is there before she enters one of the stalls. She takes off the barrette and presses the tiny glowing light. She speaks very softly. "What is it? I only have a few minutes."  
"Nikki."  
"Not so loud...you didn't put a volume control on this thing, and I did warn you about her."  
"She's in trouble now."  
"What happened?"  
"No time to explain. He said he was going to hurt her before he took her back to the club."  
"You were stupid enough to try to leave with her? You really have been out of the superhero business for awhile..." Terra looks up when she hears footsteps outside the door. "...I gotta go-I'll do what I can."  
"Just be careful and don't get yourself caught."  
Ebony enters the bathroom. "You okay Sunshine?"  
Thinking quickly Terra leans over the toilet and shoves her finger down her throat-making herself throw up.  
"Sunshine?"  
"I haven't been feeling very well lately."  
"Wait here, I'll go get Little Sis."  
Terra places the barrette back in her hair as Ebony leaves the room. So the lie will get her off the hook with the mayor tonight, but how she's going to help Nikki she has no idea. She flushes the toilet and goes out to the sinks as Little Sis comes in.  
"Ebony said you were sick."  
"I just haven't felt very good for a few days."  
"Are you taking your pills?"  
"I never miss them." She rushes back into a stall and makes herself sick again just for show.  
Sonja takes out her phone and calls the scheduler. "Find another girl for the mayor tonight, Sunshine's sick. I'm going to take her up to the infirmary." She gets some towels and wets them and wipes of Terra's flushed face. "Do you think you can make it upstairs before you get sick again?"  
"I can try."  
"Come on we'll take the elevator."  
The elevator-that's it she thinks, a way to tip of little sis that her big bro may be about to hurt Nikki. He would have taken her up stairs that way to avoid being seen and if he thinks she tried to run that's where he will have taken her. Terra leans against the wall of the elevator after little sis leads her inside. "What happened with Nikki?"  
Sonja turns to Terra as the doors close. "What do you mean?"  
"I could hear her in the elevator, it went up as I was coming down here after my shift. She almost sounded scared."  
She takes out her phone and calls her brother, but there is no answer. She tries the office too, but still nothing. "What's that ass up to?" Sonja turns to Terra. "I'll find out what's going on as soon as I get you to the infirmary. If he's trying to hurt her, I'll make sure you get a weeks vacation just for tipping me off-hell a month."

Elrich is sitting on the bed frowning over his phone when Nikki emerges from the bathroom.  
She looks at her now indigo hair clearly confused. "What's going on?"  
"Drop the act. I know what you and that guy are up to. I must admit it was a clever plot...him kidnapping you just so he could get you away long enough for you to spill whatever secrets you tempted from the mayor."  
"I don't know what you're talking about. That guy caught me by surprise-"  
"-its all on tape-you never called for security. If it all wasn't one of your little acts then that should have been the first words out of your mouth."  
"I thought I could handle him. He looked like some dumb perv dressed up for Halloween."  
"What did you tell him?"  
"I didn't tell him anything. He-"  
"-Drop the act Raven!"  
"My name is Nikki! I don't know any Raven!"  
Elrich picks up the whip and strikes Nikki with it. He keeps hitting her-driving her back into a corner. "The titans are plotting to come back aren't they?"  
"Stop it please!"  
"Answer me damn it!"  
"I told you I don't know what you're talking about!"  
He grabs her hair again and drags her over to the bed where he shoves her down. He hits her again as she tries to get up and run.  
Nikki hits her head on the headboard as she falls back onto the bed. She moans in pain as Elrich forces her to turn over on her stomach. Something about that panics her.  
Elrich unzips the tight little dominatrix costume and pulls it off Nikki. He pulls her boots off her to-leaving her completely naked. "If you won't cooperate, there are ways to force it out of you." He uses the whip to bind her hands to the headboard.  
Everything seems so...fuzzy to her now, but the one thing that clearly sticks with her is the name of the guy the girl pulled from the portal. "Kilowatt!"  
He grabs the chain-twisting it around her neck to shut her up.

Sonja checks Nikki's den of pain-all she finds is the open vent. She goes up to the office, but no one is there. She goes over to the monitors to find out what happened with Nikki."

There is a sudden burst of light in the room. Nikki is starting blackout when she hears the voice of someone else in the room.  
"Leave her alone!"  
She can just barely make out the power company guy from her dreams-no that's not right-its just the only way that Nikki could make sense of it...but then she's not really Nikki-is she? It's all a blur to her as she slips her hands from the loose bindings.  
Elrich gets up from the bed and faces the intruder. "Costumed freaks aren't allowed in this city anymore. I don't know where you came from, but you can join your other little friend when I'm through with you."  
She hears a struggle-but none of it registers to her. Is she Nikki the strip tease vixen or is she Raven the former dark sorceress of the teen titans? As she sits up watching the two men fight-Nikki very much wants to win the battle within her. She staggers up from the bed-collapsing to her knees as she looks at the chain that is attached to her necklace. She traces it all the way up until she comes to the charm of the caged bird. She looks up at the fighting men. Nikki or Raven? Raven or Nikki? She doesn't know who she is anymore. She presses her hands against her head as she rocks back and forth on her knees. She screams as she finally lets go of her head and picks up the chain. She trembles visibly as she slips it around the neck of one of the men. She pulls it tight as the other one stands there watching in shock. She collapses to the floor with the one she's choking. "How do you like it you bastard!?" She pulls away from the unconscious man and collapses crying.  
Kilowatt first checks to see that the guy is still alive. He goes to the closet-finding some of her old clothes before he goes over to the sobbing girl. "Raven?" As he kneels beside her he can hear her repeating that she is Raven over and over like a broken record. He waits until she is calm before he tries to talk to her. He hands her the clothing as she finally looks up at him. He gently caresses her face where dark bruising is already starting to form. "What happened?"  
"It's a long story."  
Kilowatt looks away as she slips on the old uniform.  
"How did you get here?"  
"I heard you call for help this time...and somehow a portal just opened."  
Raven stands up once she is dressed. "I'm afraid I may not be able to get you home-" She turns around at a sudden pounding on the door, only to nearly collapse from a wave of dizziness.  
"Elrich, what the hell is going on in there?! Open this door now if you want to live!"  
Kilowatt breaks the padlock-holding the chain to the one around Raven's neck. "We better get out of here."  
"They blocked my powers somehow." Raven looks around the room until she spots the vent. "Come on."  
He follows Raven over to the vent and helps her pry it open. They climb inside as the door is forced open.  
Sonja forces open the door and looks down at her brother who is just waking up. "What the hell is going on in here? What did you do with Nikki?"  
"The costumed freaks are back-they took her. She's been getting information from the mayor for them."  
"No she hasn't you jack-ass...she hasn't been Raven for a long time. But what do you think is going to happen if they find a way to get her back?"

Nightwing makes it back to the escape tunnel-it looks like they haven't found it yet, but he is sure it is only a matter of time until they figure out where it goes. He ducks inside as a car turns into what is now the tunnel leading to the strip clubs parking garage. He starts to go further inside when he hears voices. He waits until the last moment before leaping out into the path of what he is sure are guards.  
Kilowatt-holds Raven back-keeping her behind him as he lets his electrical powers fire up.  
"Kilowatt?"  
Raven looks over Kilowatt's shoulder. "Robin?"  
Nightwing looks behind Kilowatt. "Raven?"  
"I think we better figure this out later and get away before the guards come after us."  
He scratches his head for a moment puzzling over how Kilowatt got here, and how Raven is Raven again. "No-Terra is still in there."  
"Terra?...Sunshine! I knew she looked familiar."

Terra looks up as the doctor goes out into the hallway to see why all the guards start to run around yelling. She gets up and goes to the bathroom as the hair clip starts to vibrate again. "What did you do now?"  
"I need you to get out of there Terra."  
"Some one needs to-"  
"-do you think they don't know who you used to be too? Get out of there while you still can."  
"How am I supposed to do that? Guards are all over the place now."  
"Where are you?"  
"The bathroom in the infirmary."  
"There is a vent at the base of the wall. Open it and go through it. It will lead to you to us-hurry and be careful." Terra shoves the clip back into her hair and pries open the vent as she hears voices outside the door. She climbs inside and quickly pulls it closed behind her.

In an old ramshackle building just outside of town-Raven finds the spot where she hid her mirror and the book of Azar. She remembers that this is where she was headed when Elrich found her. She looks up at Nightwing. "I'm sorry, I couldn't take it anymore so I became what they wanted me to be. Nikki just took over after that, and I couldn't stop her. I never meant to hurt you."  
"I'm just glad that you are you again. That Nikki has a heck of a left hook."  
"That's all that got you huh?"  
"Lets not talk about the rest of it I never meant for you to end up getting hurt either, I just thought-"  
"-Let's just call it even and forget the whole thing.""  
Kilowatt looks from Raven to Nightwing. "Did I miss something?"  
Terra turns away from the window. "Trust me-you don't want to know."  
Raven turns to Kilowatt. "You were there when I needed you. That's all that matters."  
"I never should have left...and I won't leave you again."  
Terra leans over to Nightwing. "They like each other right?"  
"Oh yeah. Want me to get rid of that chain?"  
"Yes please. If anyone ever calls me Sunshine again, I will hurt them severely." Terra drops the chain in the floor then kicks it away." She looks down at her hands when she doesn't feel her powers return.  
"Something wrong?"  
"Maybe that wasn't how they blocked my powers after all."  
Nightwing goes over to Raven. "Want that chain off now?"  
She just nods and lets him get it off. She holds onto it-just looking at the charm for a few moments once its off before throwing it against the wall. The bird part of the charm breaks away from the cage as it falls to the floor.  
Nightwing goes over to the window and looks out over the city. "We never should have left it. I think its time we clean it up.  
Kilowatt places his arm around Raven-holding her close. "If you intend to do this, count me in."  
Raven leans into Kilowatt's comforting embrace. "I don't have my powers back either, but I'll do what I can."  
Terra turns to look back outside. "I already agreed to help so...where do we start?"  
"At the bottom and work our way up." Nightwing look back at the others as they join him at the window overlooking the city as a new day dawns.

* * *

This isn't the end of the story there are many more parts to come. My editor brought up the point that Raven seems to remember everything Nikki did. Raven is the dominate personality-it has been awhile since I read up on all this stuff, but she would be the only one aware of any other personalties she might have-not to be confused with the emoticlones. My editor thinks I should have used them, but the personality of Nikki was just more fun to work with and it won't be the last we see of her. Since the sequels are based loosely on songs from the Purple Rain soundtrack up next is Darling Raven 2-Computer Blue. I think the master disk file for this first one was almost forty pages and was broken down into 10 chapters. I don't know if all of the others will be that long or not when they're all written, but my editor and I are going to work on getting them broken down into more even chapters this time around. I thank all of you who reviewed letting me know what you thought of the story and if you liked it I hope you will check out the coming sequels. To answer the question my editor asked-I have no plans to write a second set of stories based on the Graffiti Bridge soundtrack-I've never even listened to the soundtrack.

The last time I worked on all these stories I think I put them all way because I just got burnt out on them since that is all I was working on at the time. I'll still work on typing up the old ones from my notebooks but I'm also going to work on typing up some others too. So for those of you who have me on author alerts I am going to be posting some other fan fictions as well-like my take on a second generation of Samurai Troopers aka Ronin Warriors over in the anime section (that I have been working on for the last three to four years.) I also have some She-Ra ones and She-Ra/He-man crossover ones too. I am hoping to get a new job soon so I may not be updating as often as before-that is also why I'm not going to work on anything new for awhile. In the meantime I do hope you will enjoy the older stuff that I put up over the next few months. If I do decide to put up anything new it will probably be the sequels to this story.


	11. Chapter 11

**Teaser to the sequel of this story that is now online. Look for it in the list of stories in my profile and sign up for updates if you like it as much as the first one.**

* * *

**Darling Raven, Darling Nikki 2 Computer Blue.**

Elrich sits in his office replaying some old tapes of Nikki on stage and security footage from the den pain. Its been a couple of months since the costumed freaks as he likes to call them showed up and took her away from him. Nikki was the biggest money maker he ever had-and the best in bed. He's had some time to think. She wasn't Raven for months before they ever showed up-so he doubts that she had anything to with they're reappearance. Sunshine on the other hand...he knows who she used to be. Maybe the mayor's fondness for her was no accident-she could have been getting information and feeding it to the freaks. He still doesn't buy her just happening to be around when he took Nikki upstairs a few months ago. Sunshine was probably the one that even let the freak in who tried to kidnap Nikki. She did disappear right after the second one came in and took Raven away. Both of the girls may have gotten away for now-but he doesn't intend to let them get away with it. He's got rooms waiting upstairs for both of them. He will be Nikki's and/or Raven's only patron-Sunshine on the other hand is going to be a whole different story.


End file.
